Dancing Through the Flames
by lilcorman119
Summary: Taking a spin on something I had a dream about and expanding a little on the Persona 5 group. Hopefully the grammar and everything is pretty good because late night story writing takes a toll on your eyes. I hope you enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

He gasped for breath as he felt the hand tighten around his throat more, choking the life out of him. Sweat poured down his forehead as he frankly clutched at the hand hoping to bring some relief to his oxygen deprived lungs. As he started to feel light-headed, he closed his eyes and remembered everything up to what was taking place now.

Evan Kawasani walked through the halls of Shujin Academy on a Sunday while the school was closed. He was finding his way through the school so that when he started the next day, he would be able to avoid getting lost. He came across room 2-D which was going to be his classroom come tomorrow. It was going to be a refreshing start to a new life that he hoped would be good. As he made his way back downstairs to the front gate, he received a text message. It was from his boyfriend, Shikora Kawokasi.

"The apartment is all ready for you when you get here."

Evan brushed some of his red hair back out of his face as he read the message. He texted Kawokasi back letting him know that he was on his way home. As Evan rode that train back to Shinjuku he thought back on everything that had happened over the summer break.

Evan hadn't told anyone, except for one person, that the reason he had to change schools was because he came out to his parents, and their way of understanding his feelings towards the same sex was to kick him out of the house. Evan didn't really have a choice in the matter either. What do you tell your parents when they walk in on you and you're dressed in your drag attire? He thought his parents would have been more understanding since he was the only child, but he was wrong.

Evan was broke, out on the street, and worse of all it was a horrible summer. All the schools had gone on summer break, so luckily he wasn't missing out on his education; however, if he did not find somewhere to stay soon he could kiss his education goodbye. He was in and out of shelters trying to find decent work, but never really finding anything that he could stick with. It wasn't that he wasn't capable of doing the job, he was just never given the chance to continue. He was at his wits end and was contemplating if he should just end it all when a car pulled up next to him. The man inside asked him if he was okay or if he needed help. Evan couldn't formulate any words, instead he just broke down and started crying. The man got out of the car and helped the shaking boy into his car and got back into the driver's side. He started driving and told Evan his name was Shikora Kawokasi. Evan thanked the man and told him that his name was Evan Kawasani.

"It's nice to meet you Evan" Kawokasi said as he looked over at the young boy as his tears started to dry and create streaks down his cheeks. "Why were you wondering the streets this late at night? Don't you have anywhere to go?"

Evan wiped his eyes and sighed out before answering Kawokasi. He didn't plan on telling him about his parents, so instead settled on saying, "To be perfectly honest Kawokasi, I'm gay and a loner. I've been jumping from shelter to shelter and trying to find work with no such luck. There were a few nights when I had to sleep on a bench, and it would pour so much that I'm surprised I'm not sick or dead."

Evan's story shocked and saddened Kawokasi greatly. Hearing that someone so young was going through so much on his own. He understood that this was his first time meeting the boy, but he wanted to help him out.

"Evan, I know that we just met, but I can't sit idly by and let a child like yourself live out on the street. If it is okay with you, would you like to come and stay at my place?"

Evan's heart swelled up with emotions as he listened intently to Kawokasi's question. Were his days of living on the street finally done? Was he actually going to be able to continue his education and his life like it used to be? Without even hesitating Evan told Shikora that he would love to stay with him. Evan's response put a smile on Shikora's face as he drove him towards Shinjuku, which was known as the Red Light District, to everyone from that area. Things were starting to look up for Evan, or so he thought. When he walked up to Shikora's apartment, he found that he had the whole second floor to himself. The living room was spacious and took up a majority of the apartment. It had his small dining table, a sofa, a loveseat, a recliner, an entertainment system with a 60 in television, and a few potted plants to give the space some life. There was a small breakfast bar with stools that connected the kitchen to the living room. The kitchen had all the latest appliances in it. Shikora was nice enough to show Evan where the bathroom was and where the guest room was.

The guest room was tiny and was sparse of furniture. There was a closet, a small twin bed, and a night stand. Shikora blushed and apologized letting Evan know that he never had many guests stay over. Evan told him that it was fine and made his way back out to the living room. They made small talk and decided to go out shopping the next day to get Evan some more clothes and everything. There was another door down the hall that was across from the bathroom that Shikora said was his office. He was a producer of some sorts and had all his important information there. The space was bigger than the guest room, so Shikora told Evan that at some point before school started back up that he would switch his office to the smaller room so Evan had a bit more space for his homework and everything.

Evan thought that everything was going to turn around for him for a change. Things with Shikora started to go great for the rest of the winter break. Shikora had contacted the Principal of Shujin Academy and managed to get him enrolled. Not only was Evan going to be able to continue his education, but things between him and Shikora started to get more serious than he was expecting. Apparently, Shikora was bisexual and through the few weeks that Evan had started living there, had started to catch some feelings. Evan told Kawokasi that he preferred to stay in his own room when it was finished so that he had a break away for his work and everything. Kawokasi understood, but during the time that he was getting everything switched around for Evan, took full advantage of having the young man in his bed. Kawokasi no longer saw Evan as a small boy, but as the man that he was.

Things were progressing fine, until Kawokasi started coming home later and later. Evan couldn't seem to wrap his mind around what was going on and whenever he asked Shikora about it, he was brush off the question and relate it back to work saying that they were recording something new. Things escalated one night when Shikora came home smelling like sex and cheap perfume. He crawled into bed with Evan and the minute that the scent hit Evan's nose he questioned Shikora. From that point there was yelling and then a loud smack the echoed through the entire apartment. It was the first time that Shikora had ever laid a hand on Evan, and Evan held onto his pained cheek as he ran to the guest bedroom and locked himself in for the night. Unfortunately, from then on things started to spiral downward. Evan, from the text messages finally got his room, but Shikora was making him pay back the money for the clothes that he had purchased for him, the labor of switching the rooms around for him, pretty much the other necessities that he needed like school supplies and what not.

Evan was dreading being at the apartment and knew that Shikora would be working late but still did not want to be there. One night he stumbled into Crossroads trying to get in out of the rain. As he wiped excess rain off of him he looked up and made eye contact with a drag queen.

"What do you think you are doing here?" questioned the purple hair queen as she took a puff from her cigarette.

"Sorry, I was just looking for a place to keep dry. I didn't know that this was a bar" Evan replied sheepishly. He started to clean up his face grabbing a few napkins as the queen introduced herself as Lala Escargot. Evan looked up to thank her for allowing him to dry off when he heard a loud gasp come from the queen.

"Where did you get that?" Lala-chan questioned while pointing at the shiner that Evan had around his right eye. He raised his hand up as if to shield it from the few patrons that were there as tears started to well up in his eyes. Lala-chan saw this and asked if the boy wanted to go in the back and discuss it. Evan nodded and used the wet napkins to clean up the few tears that had left his eyes.

As soon as they were in the back Lala-chan turned around and saw a very dejected boy looking at the floor. The queen has seen this type of behavior before and once again asked Evan what had happened. Evan took a deep sigh and told Lala-chan everything that had happened. He started with getting kicked out by his parents, living on the streets, getting rescued by Shikora which turned out to be less of a rescue now that things were so miserable at the apartment, and finished off with how Shikora was treating him. His words saddened Lala-chan as well and the queen shook her head before sighing heavily.

"Well if you're looking for work, I could potentially hire you and provide you with some funds; however, you would only be working nights if that works for you?"

Evan started to perk up and told Lala-chan that he could do that and wanted to know when he could start. Lala-chan reached into a draw that was next to her with a mirror and gave Evan some make-up to cover up his shiner.

"How about you start as soon as you cover up that shiner and tell me exactly what happened to make this Shikora fellow make him want to hit you."

Evan nodded and started to cover up his shiner making sure spread the foundation around and blend it in so that he looked as if he wasn't wearing make-up to begin with.

"I don't know if you have heard about this group called the Phantom Thieves, but I saw a post on their forum that was talking about a despicable producer who uses his clients for sex in order for them to get their parts in his movies and shows, and if they don't sleep with him they have no chance of ever finding work in show biz."

Lala-chan barely heard Evan as she watched him masterfully apply the make-up. "I have heard a few of the patrons talking about the phantom thieves, but how does this relate back to Shikora?"

"Well he is a producer and I asked him if the post was about him. He was furious when he read it and threw my phone at me striking me in my face so hard that it left that shiner."

Evan gestured up to where the shiner was and had now been expertly covered by the foundation.

"Evan where did you learn to apply make-up?" Lala-chan questioned completely forgetting what he had originally talking to the boy about. It wasn't that she wasn't truly concerned about him, but she had never seen someone so young that was so accurate about make-up. What piqued her interest even more was that it was a boy who had these skills and not a girl.

"I taught myself when I used to dress in drag" Evan responded handing the foundation back to Lala-chan and smiling. It wasn't usual that someone appreciated his skills with make-up.

Hearing this made Lala-chan perk up as he knew what he was going to have Evan do for work. She told Evan to start going through the drawers and put on more make-up. Lala-chan stepped out and saw that Ohya was sitting at the bar and approached her.

"Hey! I need a favor of you quick" Lala-chan said to the drunk journalist.

"What do you want you snail? You take so long to pour me a glass or booze" Ohya slurred back at her.

Lala-chan rolled her eyes and disregarded the insult, "Ohya I need you to go and grab me some things from my apartment and one of my wigs."

Ohya's eyes perked up as she nodded and went up to Lala's apartment and grabbed the few things that she was requesting. She came back in and sat back in her chair with a surprised Lala looking at her.

"Wow, I didn't think you were actually going to do it" she said as she reached out to grab the items from Ohya, who brought them just out of reach.

"Oh, I didn't do this just out of the kindness of my heart, I did this because you needed them and I need some free drinks so my tab doesn't keep going up; so if you could just make my drinks free for the night, I'm sure I could hand these items over to you for whatever it is you need them for."

Lala agreed and just shook her head as she walked into the back and was surprised to see Evan with a remarkable beautiful look. He looked like a completely different person and was happy to see the items that Lala had brought him. Without even needing to be told by Lala, he threw an outfit together from the items. Once he was done he was standing before Lala in a pink kimono, sandals, and a black wig that reached halfway down the boys back.

"Well you are quite knowledgeable about this. It makes my job a lot easier. How do you feel about performing?" Lala-chan said to Evan as he looked at himself in the mirror happy to have a bit of himself back

"I used to be a part of the drama club and choir at my old school, so I feel pretty good about performing. Is that what you are going to have me do for work?" Evan asked as he looked back at Lala-chan smiling.

"That is my intentions. I'm thinking that some live performances might get this play on the map for more than just the few patrons that we have here in Shinjuki."

Evan smiled and told Lala-chan that it was a deal before heading out. Evan couldn't believe his luck with finding Lala-chan. Finally, someone who understood him and would be able to help him, not to mention a safe haven away from the abuse at home.

"Two more things hunny" Lala started, "first, you have to keep those items here since they are mine. You can use them while you are working until you are able to afford your own stuff. Second, what is your drag name so I call you the correct name because it would be weird for my patrons if I referred to you as Evan while in drag."

"It's Sheeva" Evan replied as he started to blush never telling anyone the drag name he had gave himself.

"Well that's different" Lala-chan chuckled as he went back out front to the bar.

Evan followed and found a little area off to the side that looked like a stage. He got up there and found a microphone and a microphone stand off to the far side of the small stage He did a sound check and made sure that everything was working before he started to sing. His voice filled the bar causing the few patrons there to turn and look with interest. Ohya stopped sipping on her drink and looked over at Evan studying him and realizing he was wearing the items that Lala-chan had her go get.

"What's with the kid?" Ohya slurred out spilling a little of her drink as she set it down.

"He came here looking for work and told me that he is a drag queen. If you want to ever talk to him you can call him Evan, or if he is performing you can call him Sheeva" Lala-chan said sternly as she wiped up the excess liquor from the bar top.

Ohya watched Evan perform and soon found herself getting lost in his voice that she never heard her phone go off. It was Lala-chan who pointed it out to her who was also starting to get caught up in Evan's performance realizing that she nabbed herself a good one with this boy. She could tell that before long word was going to spread about Evan's performance. Sure, it was just his first one, but she knew her regulars well and they were quite the chatty Kathy's.

Ohya gave a little excited squeal as she put her phone down and causing Lala to come back to reality.

"What are you so excited about?" the queen asked the sloshed journalist.

"That high schooler from the academy is coming by to discuss something about the Phantom Thieves. This is going to be a good night so you should pour me another drink" Ohya excitedly said.

Lala-chan sighed and poured her another drink before going back to her other duties. Evan performed a few more times before he realized how late it was getting. He thanked the few people who were still there for listening to him and made his way over to his new boss.

"Is it okay if I call it a night Lala-chan? I have to go to my new school tomorrow and look around so that I'm not too lost on my first day."

"Sure thing Sheeva hunny, just put your items back and I will have your payment ready for you when you get out here" Lala-chan said as she smiled and made her way over to the register.

Evan smiled as he made his way towards the back and got changed back into his usually clothes. He made his way back to the front and was greeted by Lala-chan and was given 4800 yen. Evan thank Lala-chan and was heading out when he bumped into someone he had never seen before. He apologized and continued back to the apartment when he found Shikora sitting on the couch waiting for him. The minute he closed the door, Kawokasi was all over him hammering him with questions. Evan tried to ignore him and make his way to the guest bedroom, but was unable to get the door closed in time before Kawokasi was practically was on top of him.

"I smell smoke on you, where the fuck were you?" He said as he pushed Evan up against a wall.

"If you must know I got a job and it's not a smoke free establishment" Evan croaked out as his fear started to set in again.

"Oh good, so that means you're going to start paying me back then huh?" Shikora said with a smile as he reached into Evan's pocket and took out 2500 of the 3500 yen.

Evan couldn't look Shikora in the face as he took money out of his pocket. He knew this was how it was going to be, and maybe now he would stop putting his hands on him.

"Such a good boyfriend bringing home money" Shikora said as he gave Evan a kiss on the cheek causing a pain in his stomach. Once Shikora had left the room, Evan undressed and curled up into bed praying that school would start up tomorrow instead of a day from now. Along with that, he also prayed that his time at school and at work would allow him to stay away from the house for as long as he could.

Evan walked back into the apartment and had a moment of relief when he found that Kawokasi was not there. He went to his room that had a note from his distant boyfriend that had the total amount of his so-called services for switching his room around to this new room. Evan crumpled up the paper and threw it out before pulling out his Shujin academy clothes and climbing into bed. He figured he might as well get in bed now and get a good night's sleep before his first day at his new school.

Evan woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He groggily rolled over and turned it off before climbing out of bed and getting ready for school. He made sure to get his uniform on before he went into the bathroom and started applying make-up to cover up his shiner. Last thing he really wanted was for someone to see it and start asking him about it like Lala-chan did. He was happy that Lala-chan saw it though so that he could finally get all of that off his chest. Not to mention, it landed him a job at her bar. Lala-chan had texted him yesterday and told him that he could work Monday through Friday and take the weekend for himself. From what he was told from Lala-chan, it wouldn't be good if it didn't give himself any down time to work on things other than work and school.

Evan finished getting ready and was greeted in the kitchen by a half-dressed Kawokasi. He didn't even bother making eye-contact with him as he poured himself a bowl of cereal and ate it. Kawokasi on the other hand walked up behind Evan and gave him a kiss on the cheek wishing him luck on his first day at his new school. The show of affection shocked Evan considering the last week and a half had been nothing but physical and emotional abuse. Before Evan could turn around to say anything, Shikora was already down the hall and in his room finishing getting ready. Evan brushed it off and headed out the door to make his train so that he wasn't late to school.

As he made his way up to the second floor of Shujin Academy, Evan found himself lost in a sea of students. He didn't know that so many people attended this Academy and reluctantly found his classroom. When he entered the first thing he noticed was the pained look the teacher gave him before introducing him to the class. The only available seat was behind a timid looking kid with grayish eyes and black hair. Evan sat down quickly as to try and avoid the many eyes that were on him, but he had no such luck. The boy in front of him turned around and smiled at him introducing himself.

"Hello, my name is Yuuki Mishima. What's yours?"

"My name is Evan Kawasani. It's nice to meet you Mishima" Evan replied back scanning the room and going bug-eyed when his eyes fell onto someone who he recognized. Mishima noticed his expression and followed his eyes to Akira.

"Oh, that's Akira-san, do you know him?" Mishima asked as he smiled and looked back at Evan.

"No, I bumped into him yesterday at work and didn't realize that he went here" Evan replied taking a closer look at Akira and seeing him pull out his phone and engage in a conversation through text.

"Well It's nice to meet you Kawasani-san. If you have any other questions about the skill, I can show you around after class" Mishima finished as he turned back around to face the teacher.

Evan smiled to himself as he too looked up to the front and started listening in on the lector. While he was listening movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was Akira-san putting his phone back into his pocket and shaking his head. Almost as soon as he did that, he felt the stare from Akira as their eyes connected and Evan quickly reverted his gaze away. He blushed and prayed that the student did not recognize him from the bar. The last thing he needed was someone bringing up his workplace here.

The hours dwindled away as Evan sat and listened to the teachers' lector away about the upcoming trip that the students would be going on. Knowing him, he didn't have the money for such luxuries and wouldn't be accompanying them. The last thing that he wanted to do was ask Shikora if he could help him out with it. Besides there would always be other times that he could venture out and leave Japan.

Evan started putting his books and things into his bag when Mishima approached him. Evan smiled up at Mishima and got out of his seat.

"Do you want me to show you around?" Mishima asked him as they started heading towards the door to exit the classroom.

"Sure, I would love that" Evan said hoping that it wasn't coming off as flirting. He had been accused of flirting even when he never intended on it. It just kind of happened without him noticing. Mishima smiled and started showing him around, starting on the third floor. He walked Evan into the library and introduced him to the student who rented out the books and where he could read or study. He then proceeded to show him the Student Council room that was right next to the library. There wasn't much else except classrooms, so he took him down to the first floor. There tour was going fine until they reached the vending machines in the courtyard. They rounded the corner and were about to walk into the little shaded area when there was a loud slam that caused Evan to flinch and kneel down.

"God Dammit!" an angered blonde boy said as he pulled his fist away from the vending machines.

"Kawasani-san are you okay?" Mishima asked as he knelt to check on the boy.

Evan just knelt there and covered his head as he started to shake a little. The slam reverted him back to his home life where he was being abused. Mishima's voice caused the blonde-haired boy to turn around. When he did, Evan look up to see four pairs of eyes looking at him. Scared Evan jumped up and grabbed his bag. "I gotta get out of here" he exclaimed as he made his way towards the front gate. As he sped away he left Mishima very confused and worried.

"It's not normal for someone to have that reaction" Mishima thought out-loud.

"I don't know, but what they hell were you doing here Mishima" the blonde-hair boy asked him.

"I was just showing the new kid around. Why are you here Ryuji" Mishima asked back not fazed by the aggravated boy.

"None of your business" Ryuji started before looking at the others and saying, "come on Akira-san and Ann. We should continue this talk somewhere else."

Both Ann and Akira nodded as they started walking away, but Mishima was still rather perplexed and worried.

"Hey, Akira-san" He started seeing the taller boy turn around to acknowledge him. "Kawasani-san told me that you saw him at his job yesterday. Could you tell me where that is so I can go and check on him? He seemed pretty scared and frazzled when Ryuji hit the vending machine."

Akira started nervously rubbing his arm as he told Mishima that he bumped into him at Crossroads in the Red Light District. Mishima thank him and went on his way.

"Dude you went back to the Red Light District?" Ryuji asked as he grabbed his bag and started walking towards the front gate.

"What were you doing there?" Ann asked also picking up her bag and walking alongside Ryuji and Akira.

"I went to go and talk to the journalist again. You know, see if she could give me any more intel" Akira responded back as the three of them walked towards the train station on their way to Leblanc.

Mishima went home and changed out of his school clothes before heading to the Red Light District. He didn't want to be stopped and questioned by police or adults, so he needed to make sure he would sort of fit in. After leaving a note with his parents, Mishima made his way to the train station and headed for the Red Light District. Once there he made his way to Crossroads and approached the barista.

Lala-chan looked over and gave a hard sigh causing Ohya to turn around. "Is this another one that you have requested?" She asked Ohya as she shook her head.

"They seem to be popping up like flies" Ohya giggled as she took a sip from her drink. "But this one isn't here for me. I didn't request him."

"Can I help you with anything?" Lala-chan asked as she puffed on her cigarette and eyed the teenager down.

"Um…well…. I.. I'm here because my friend Akira said that Kawasani-san was here, and I thought maybe he worked here and I would be able to find him" Mishima stuttered out before finding his resolve in finding his friend.

"Kawasani-san is in the back getting ready for work. You can talk to him when he comes out, so for now find a seat and let me know if I can get you anything" Lala-chan said as she mentioned to the plethora of empty seats in the bar.

"Thank you" Mishima said as he sat down at a nearby table and started preoccupying himself with his phone. After about half an hour Mishima started to get irritated because there was no sign of Kawasani-san. He was started to get up and leave when he saw someone emerge from the stage. Mishima was completely awestruck by the beauty on the stage. She was dressed in a pink kimono and sandals. Her hair was black and wavy, reaching midway down her back. Those blue eyes that looked out over the crowd looked familiar to Mishima.

Evan had just gotten up on stage and scanned the room to see who was there when his heart dropped. He saw Mishima from school and immediately started to panic a little. ' _What if he recognizes me?_ ' Evan thought to himself. Evan shook the thought away and grabbed the microphone.

"Hello Everyone," he addressed the few patrons as they started to face the stage," I hope you all are ready because I'm gonna bring you some tunes you haven't heard in a while!"

With that Evan started to sing Umbrella by Rihanna as he watched Mishima stare at him and swoon. As he continued with the song trying to avert his gaze from Mishima, he got his second shock of the night when he saw Akira, Ann, and Ryuji walk in. This was bad! Four students, three of which were in his class, were now here and he was nervous.

"Man, this is where you work during some of your evenings" Ryuji started complaining as he looked around the bar.

"Oh don't be so rude Ryuji. It's more than you're doing with your nights" Ann kidded with him as she gave him a little nudge.

"You don't know what I do on my free time" Ryuji snapped back at her trying to act tough.

"Sorry, I wasn't aware that video games was something great during someone's free time" Ann sarcastically replied as she rolled her eyes.

It was at that time that Lala-chan turned around and saw all three of them. She started shaking her head and walked over to Akira.

"What are you all doing here? If I get anymore of you in here I'm going to be in trouble" Lala-chan spat out between puffs of her cigarette.

"What do you mean?" Ryuji questioned as he looked the drag queen over. Instead of responding, the queen motioned over to where Mishima was sitting mesmerized by Kawasani's performance. The three of them all looked over and saw him, and then looked up to see a younger queen up on stage performing. She had just finished Umbrella and started up Never Enough from the Greatest Showman. Ann right away picked up on the soft beat and started to walk over to Mishima's table.

Ryuji was frozen in space and unable to take another step. He was unaware that Kawasani was a drag queen and thought that the individual up on stage was a real girl. As she sang out, Lala-chan picked up on Ryuji's face and leaned in close to him and Akira.

"That's my most recent hire. Goes by the name Sheeva if you plan on talking to her after her performance."

"Was that who I ran into yesterday as I was coming in to meet Ohya?" Akira questioned as he continued to watch Evan's performance.

"Yep, he was a lucky fine" Lala-chan finished before walking over to go and entertain some of her regular patrons.

Ryuji missed the last part of Lala-chan's conversation as Sheeva finished yet another song. She switched Never Enough to New Rules by Dua Lipa. Ann pulled Mishima to his feet and started dancing with him causing the poor boy to shade three shades of red. He stood there awkwardly making eye contact with Akira who sat at his table and chuckled. Ryuji sat down next to him.

"Dude do you see the curves on that chick?" Ryuji asked excitedly as he started to rub his hands together hoping it would take away some of the sweat.

Akira looked back over at Sheeva and noticed how tight the kimono was around him and how the form of the attire fit her well. He watched as Ryuji continued gawking and didn't have the heart to tell him that this little crush was nothing more than false because Sheeva was a guy. It was about that time that the song was ending and a flustered Mishima sat back down with a winded Ann.

"You barely…even dance…Mishima" Ann panted out as she relaxed and tried to regain her breath.

"I'm not good at dancing" he said sheepishly and hid his face from everyone feeling his ears start to burn from embarrassment.

"Thank you for listening, I will be back to continue in a little bit" Sheeva said causing everyone to look at her as she left the stage.

"Hey Lala-chan, is there anything you need me to do while I am on break?" Sheeva asked as she approached the bar and grabbed herself a water.

"Well hunny, that entire table over there is here to see you I think" she replied as she pointed at the table where Ann and Ryuji were harassing a very flustered Mishima.

"Okay" Sheeva responded dejectedly and made her way over to their table. Just as Sheeva was making her way over to the table, a very loud and angry man came storming into the bar.

"Where the hell is he!" the voice yelled as he looked around the bar and making eye contact with those familiar blue eyes. He recognized them by the fear that he instilled in them.

"There you are you bitch" he spat out as he walked over and grabbed Sheeva forcefully, "you're coming home with me now. I struck out with the bitch that was auditioning for a spot on a hit tv show and I need someone to take care of me."

Evan tried to pull away and was slapped across the face. The slap echoed around the entire bar. Before anyone had the chance to step in both Sheeva and the man were out the door.

"What the hell was that?" Ryuji asked out loud not expecting an answer from anyone.

"That would be Shikora Kawakasi," Lala-chan started as her eyes followed the door, "He is a famous producer around these parts and it is rumored that he uses the actors and actresses auditioning for different parts for sex. Based off of what he just said, I would have to say that the rumors are most likely true. I just didn't think that the abuse that Kawasani-san told me about was so brutal. I guess it is one thing to hear about it and another thing to actually see it."

"Wait that girl was that kid from earlier?" Ryuji yelled out loud again in disbelief.

"He gets treated like that?" Ann asked softly as she looked down and away from everyone.

"The four of you need to come here right now and I will fill you in, but not a word of this gets back to Kawasani-san. Is that understood?" Lala-chan asked as the four students approached the bar and nodded.

"Evan was kicked out by his parents when they found out that he was gay. The boy has been a apart of different drama club performances so he was very familiar with make-up. After a while, wearing make-up just felt right to him, and then he landed a role that led him to enjoying drag queens. His school was doing a performance of Hairspray and he landed the role of the mother and per the tradition of the production, the mother has been a male dressed up as the mom. One night his parents came home earlier and caught him dressed up in drag. Instead of hearing the boy out, once they knew he was gay, they kicked him to the curb with nothing but the clothes on his back. While the rest of you were probably enjoying your summer breaks, he told me that he was busy moving from shelter to shelter. There were even some nights that he had to sleep out on the street. During one of the many down pours that we had, a car stopped and a man asked him if he needed help. Evan thought that he was finally saved, but something within Kawakasi changed and he became more possessive. He started using his clients and when approached by Evan about it, Evan said that he would get abused. I don't know how the boy still functions and does what he does. He has been through so much, but he still comes to work with a smile on his face and entertains all of us here with his talents."

"So that's why he flinched when you punched the vending machine" Mishima deduced as he looked over at Ryuji.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that this was happening to him?" Ryuji spat back trying to defend himself.

"No need to get hostile," Ann started, "we were all in the dark and he probably wanted to keep it that way since he doesn't really know us."

"Don't take any of it personally hunny. I don't think Evan wants to get too close to anyone because he doesn't want them to get hurt either" Lala-chan added in before looking up at the clock.

"We have to do something about this" Ryuji whispered to Ann and Akira as Lala-chan started to wash her hands off.

"Well it's getting kind of late so I think it would be safest if the four of you started on home" Lala-chan said and smiled at the four students.

Before leaving Ann, Akira and Ryuji all shared a look and nodded before bidding good night to Lala-chan and leaving with Mishima. Later that night Ryuji sent a text to the group chat for the phantom thieves.

We have our next target (Ryuji)

What do you mean? (Makoto)

Yeah didn't we just get done with one. Wouldn't it be good for us to lie low and let things settle down a little? (Yusuke)

This one is urgent (Ann)

Is has to do with one of the new students that we have a Shujin Academy (Ann)

One of our new students?! (Makoto)

I know school just started back up, but did you hear about a new student by the name of Evan? (Ann)

Or have you heard of the last name Kawasani? (Ryuji)

You mean the rising star drag queen at Crossroads? (Futaba)

How do you know that he is a drag queen!? (Ryuji)

If I told it wouldn't be a secret (Futaba)

None the less what about him (Futaba)

Yes, what does he have to do with the Phantom Thieves? (Yusuke)

We witnessed his abusive and controlling boyfriend today at Crossroads (Ann)

The bastard struck Evan in front of everyone and then dragged him out of Crossroads (Ryuji)

Apparently, he is a famous producer who also uses actors and actresses (Ann)

Does he use them for sex? (Futaba)

How did you know that? (Ryuji)

I agree, how did you know? (Yusuke)

I saw a comment on the Phantom Thieves page that said something about a corrupt producer using his clients for sex (Futaba)

If they didn't comply then he would make sure that they couldn't find any other work in show biz (Futaba)

That is horrible! (Makoto)

…However, I am more concerned about our student that was abused. (Makoto)

We should meet up tomorrow and go over this. I can't sit back knowing that one of our student's is in a dangerous situation (Makoto)

I agree (Akira)

Yeah, so are we meeting up at the usual hideout? (Ryuji)

Yes, I will see you all tomorrow (Makoto)

Evan laid there in bed with Kawakasi as he snored away. He cuddled up closer to Evan causing Evan to shake in disgust. ' _If only I was stronger'_ Evan thought to himself as he made his way out of Kawakasi's bed. He walked into the bathroom and looked at his degraded and sweaty body in the mirror. There was a nice bright red mark on his cheek from where Shikora had slapped him. His shiner was still dark, but didn't cover up as much of his eye as it did the other day. At some point Shikora had marked him on his neck as Evan reached up with a shaky hand and touched the disturbing mark. Evan shook his head as he climbed into the shower and washed away the filth that he felt was covering him from his boyfriend.

As he finished up and climbed into bed, he rolled around restlessly. Unbeknownst to him, he was not the only one rolling around restlessly. A very passionate and angry blonde-haired boy rolled around in his bed uncontrollably.

"If he was a guy, why did he look so good dressed up as a woman" Ryuji thought aloud to himself and stared up at his ceiling. "Most importantly," Ryuji started as he looked over at his alarm clock, "why can't I stop thinking about him?"

As Evan woke up the next morning, he went into the bathroom to get ready and realized that he was out of make-up to cover up everything that he had. He also looked at the clock and realized that he wouldn't have enough time to go and get more, so he decided on the lesser of two evils and covered up his black eye. This left the discoloration of his cheek and the hickey on his neck completely exposed. He grabbed his bag and was making his way towards the door.

"Mmmm" Kawakasi groaned as he got out of bed. "Last night was amazing babe" he said in a deep gruff voice as he walked over and hugged the boy from behind. "I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did."

"I have to go Shikora," Evan stated pulled away from the half-dressed man, "I have to get to school."

"Enjoy your day" Shikora said before disappearing back into his bedroom. Evan shrugged it off and started making his way to the train station so that he could make it to school on time. While he was walking into the school he saw Ann, Akira, and the blonde-haired boy talking. He still hasn't been told his name and he wasn't ever introduced. He kind of didn't really get the chance to formally get introduced to any of them except Mishima, who had given him his tour of the school. He didn't bother waiting around though and headed straight for 2-D and took his seat. Shortly after Mishima came walking in and when he saw Evan, he smiled a little and approached him.

"How are you feeling Kawasani-san? Last night was really rough to watch" Mishima said as he nervously rubbed his arm and averted his eyes from Evan's.

"So you know?" Evan asked softly feeling his emotions well up a little that kids from his school had to see his situation.

"Well to be honest, I had my doubts about you being a girl. I may have only met you yesterday but you have such memorable eyes that I kind of put two and two together. I just wish I could have helped you" Mishima replied as continued to avert his eyes and let his voice trail off.

"It's okay Mishima-san. There isn't much anyone can do for me" Evan said trying to reassure him that everything would be okay. Mishima half smiled and nodded as he took his seat in front of Evan. The two started to discuss where Evan learned to sing as Akira and Ann walked into the room. The two looked over and noticed Evan in class and Ann winced when she saw the mark on Evan's cheek.

"It must have been a hard slap if it's still red today" Ann whispered to Akira as they took their seats. Akira nodded and looked over at Mishima and Evan where they two were smiling and talking. ' _Maybe all he needs is some friends to take his mind off things'_ Akira thought to himself before paying attention to what Kawakami, their teacher, was saying. As classes progressed, Evan started to become bored and started playing games on his phone. He became so engrossed in his game that he lost tract of time, and didn't realize that classes were ending. Evan started packing up his bag and went out into the hallway unable to find any familiar faces. He decided to walk up onto the third floor and check out a book at the library.

Ryuji was making his way down the hall when he passed by the red-head and was frozen in his tracks. He had only seen Evan in drag, so seeing him out of drag was very different. The boy had a small patch of freckles covering his face and bright blue eyes. The same ones that he recognized from the queen who was performing yesterday. As Evan passed him in the hall, Ryuji turned around and saw him go into the library. Ryuji pulled out his phone and texted the group chat telling them that he was going to be a little late to the main infiltration of Shikora's palace. Ryuji was going to take the chance and apologize for his actions the other day, and maybe get some intel on what to look for regarding Shikora's palace.

Evan emerged from the library and nearly bumped into Ryuji who was standing there nervously running his hand through his hair.

"Can I help you?" Evan asked the boy a bit perplexed.

"Uh…oh yeah, my name is Ryuji, and I just wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday."

"It's quite all right, there is no way that you guys could have known, but I guess after the display that my boyfriend put on last night that it wasn't hard for you all to put two and two together. I just wish it had never happened in front of you guys" Evan replied back a bit dejected as he looked away from Ryuji.

"No, it's not all right!" Ryuji exclaimed, "he hurt you and treated you like you were some piece of property. You're more than just that."

Ryuji's words made Evan cringe. He wasn't wrong though. Shikora had been treating him more like property than his boyfriend. It was just a very complex situation that he knew he would never be able to fully explain to Ryuji.

"I know that what has happened to me is unfair, but I don't really have a choice," Evan started to say as he looked up into Ryuji's eyes, "but it is either deal with this abuse or try and make it back out on the streets."

"That's complete bullshit!" Ryuji exclaimed again and hit the wall before looking back at Evan.

"I couldn't agree more, but I have to do what I can to survive Ryuji. It's not as simple as you think."

Before his temper could get any worse, Ryuji offered to walk with Evan back to his place. He realized that at this rate he might not be able to get anything for everyone else. For the most part they walked in silence to the train station, and sat in silence as the train took them to Shinjuku. Ryuji watched as Evan read his book and had a very peaceful look on his face. ' _How could someone going through so much look so tranquil?_ ' Ryuji thought to himself before the intercom on the train started to beep and let the passengers know that they were approached the station in Shinjuku.

As the train came to a stop, Ryuji got up and waited for Evan to leave before him. Evan gave a faint smile as he put his book away and exited the train. They started making their way to Evan's apartment when they rounded the corner and Ryuji saw Akira and everyone standing around. He quickly panicked and stepped in front of Evan.

"Hey, what say you and I go to Crossroads quick and grab a drink so that we can talk?"

Evan looked at him awkwardly and decided to take him up on his offer and the two of them started walking away. While they were on their way to the bar, Ryuji sent a text to the group chat.

What the hell are you all doing outside of Evan's apartment? (Ryuji)

We can't figure out the code words to get in (Makoto)

How did you know we were here? (Makoto)

Yeah Ryuji (Futaba)

Because I was talking with Evan and offered to walk him home (Ryuji)

Oh, how sweet (Futaba)

Shut it! (Ryuji)

I have to agree, that is a very sweet gesture (Yusuke)

Unfortunately we aren't going to get too far if we can't figure out his code words though (Yusuke)

Part of the reason I was walking him home too (Ryuji)

I'm going to see if he will say anything that might help us (Ryuji)

Well hurry up and let us know so that we don't look to suspicious just sitting outside of his apartment (Ann)

I agree, our small group does look suspicious just standing around his apartment (Makoto)

If anyone asks just say that you're one of his clients (Ryuji)

That'll go over good (Futaba)

I couldn't agree more (Ryuji)

That was sarcasm (Futaba)

"Who are you texting?" Evan asked as the approached the entrance of the bar.

"Oh, just my mom" Ryuji lied as he gave Evan a big nervous smiled and held the door open for both of them. Evan just smiled and thanked him as he walked into the bar and took a seat at the bar. Lala-chan walked over and greeted the two boys, making sure to give Ryuji a look over that made him cower a little.

As Lala-chan brought over some waters for them, Evan and Ryuji started to talk about school and their home lives.

"Aside from the abuse, are things okay at home?" Ryuji asked trying to keep his voice as hushed as possible so no one over heard them.

"Well yeah if you look at that place as if it were a dungeon. Shikora pretty much treats everyone as his slaves, so he would be no better than a dungeon master. Going based off of how he treats his clients, I would say that depiction would have to be pretty spot on. Things do not go over too well if he doesn't have all of the control or power."

As Evan said this he took a few sips from his drink and excused himself so that he could go to the bathroom. Ryuji sat there and waited until he had disappeared into the bathroom before pulling out his phone. He texted the key words dungeon and power/control to Akira and waited to hear back from them. Within a few minutes he received a text back letting them know that they were in and would start infiltrating the palace. It was about at that time that Evan came back from the bathroom and gave Ryuji another smile.

"So that is kind of what my home life is like, what about you?" Evan asked as he once again made eye contact with Ryuji making the boy blush a little.

"Well it's just me and my mom. My father was never there, so I started acting out. For the most part it is fine, but I usually bury myself in video games because it is so boring at home. I should probably study more than I do, but it's just so hard to focus" he replied as he scratched the back of his head and smirked at Evan.

Evan smiled and giggled a little. He confessed that he never pictured Ryuji to me much of the studying type which caused Ryuji to go on the defensive. He crossed his arms and exclaimed that he could get good grades and studied if he wanted to. His brutish approach to it made Evan giggle a bit more causing Ryuji to smirk and laugh as well. He knew that he didn't mean what he was saying, he was just trying to sound all smart. He didn't quite understand why though because this feign was different than the others. Where everyone else would call him out for what he said, Evan just casually sat there and laughed. He didn't challenge him, or make him feel stupid. Instead, he made the situation much more appealing.

Ryuji knew that he needed to get going and catch up to the others, so he suggested the two of them leave so that Evan could get home and ready for work. Evan nodded and thanked Lala-chan for the water. He also let Lala-chan know that he would be back later before disappearing out the front door with Ryuji. They started making their way to Evan's apartment and once they were at the front door, Evan turned to Ryuji.

"Thank you for today," Evan started as he averted his eyes for the first time, "it was nice to sit down with someone and actually talk for a change. I don't remember the last time I could just sit back and relax without worry creeping back in."

Ryuji stared at the shorted boy in front of him and nervously started fidgeting with his arm. "Evan you're a smart kid and I think you deserve more than what is happening here."

Hearing him say that caused Evan to smile and look back up at Ryuji. He blushed a little and feeling the need to be close to another person walked up to Ryuji and gave him a hug. The sudden closeness caused Ryuji to blush, but as if by instinct he wrapped his arms around the smaller boy.

"I'm sorry for the suddenness," Evan stated as he pulled away from Ryuji rubbing his arm, "I was just needing some physical contact."

Ryuji smiled nervously and told Evan that it wasn't a problem. Before anything else could happen, the front door flew open. There stood an enraged and slightly intoxicated Shikora. He looked at both Ryuji and Evan as his rage continued to seethe within him.

"Who the hell is this?" Shikora spat out before grabbing Evan by his wrist and trying to yank him inside.

"Stop it Shikora, that hurts!" Evan exclaimed as he pulled away from the grip causing Shikora to grip him tighter.

"Don't tell me what to do bitch, especially if you are going to be fucking around with some other guy" the man said as he stared at Ryuji with hatred.

"We didn't even do anything you asshole, now let go of him" Ryuji yelled out as he punched Shikora causing him to release his grip on Evan. Shikora stumbled back which gave Ryuji enough time to grab a hold of Evan and started tugging him away.

"Where are we going?" Evan asked aloud as he followed behind Ryuji.

"Just trust me" Ryuji said as he pulled his phone out and the two of them disappeared.

Shikora ran out of the apartment and looked down the alley and didn't see or hear anything. He angrily walked back inside of the apartment and slammed the door shut.

Evan had closed his eyes and didn't realize that anything had happened until he opened them and saw that they were no longer next to the apartment. He turned around and yelled when he saw Ryuji dressed up in a completely different set of attire. Ryuji realizing that they would be in trouble walked over and covered up Evan's mouth.

"Don't yell!" He exclaimed as a frightened Evan looked at him. Evan shook his head letting Ryuji know that he needed to be quiet and pulled Ryuji's hand away from his mouth.

"Where the hell are we?" Asked a very confused Evan as he looked around and unconsciously held onto Ryuji's hand.

"It's called the metaverse, but there is too much to explain right now. We have to catch up to the others" Ryuji said looked down at Evan's hand in his and blushed a little. He was happy that Evan couldn't see due to his skull mask.

"Oh man! The others are going to kill me for bringing you here" Ryuji said as he shook his head in disbelief.

"The others?" Evan asked as he pulled his attention away from their surroundings and looked at Ryuji.

"It'll be easier to show you than to tell you" Ryuji answered as he started walking and dragging Evan further into the area with him. The two of them entered the dungeon and started down their path in hopes of finding the others. As they started making their way farther into the dungeon, Evan started to squeeze Ryuji's hand. Ryuji noticed this and stopped for a second.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he turned around and stared down at the shorter boy.

"It's just really scary in here" Evan sheepishly said as he started to blush and his ears started to burn from the embarrassment.

"It's okay, you got me here to help you" Ryuji said reassuringly making Evan smile as he nodded. The two of them continued on and found themselves in a main hall of the dungeon. Off to one side there was a row of chairs with a few people sitting in them blindfolded and dressed in S&M getup.

"Ryuji! Who are they?" Evan exclaimed as he grabbed a hold of the boys shirt and shook it pointing it the direction of the people.

"If I had to guess based off of the rumors I've heard, those are how he views the people he uses for sex" Ryuji deduced.

Evan just looked at them as the beings seemed to be timid and scared. Ryuji reached back and gave Evan a reassuring squeeze as the two of them continued. They soon came to a staircase that led down. As the two of them started to descend the staircase, they were shocked to see a small group of people fighting someone. By the looks of things, it appeared that the group was struggling with their foe. Ryuji let go of Evan and ran down the stairs in hopes of helping his friends, leaving Evan standing there completely perplexed.

Ann kneeled down in pain after taking a devastating blow and looked up at her opponent.

"You are stronger than you look" the dark man said as he looked down at Ann.

"Joker, he is too strong!" Ann exclaimed and winced getting back up to her feet.

"What'll we do?" As Yusuke as he also worked himself back up to his feet.

"At this rate we won't last much longer" Morgana said as he shared a look with Makoto.

"Well this was fun while it lasted" said the dark man as he raised his weapon up again, "but I think it is time for me to dispose of you meddlesome kids."

Ann and everyone closed their eyes as they watched the man swing. Ann was preparing for the worse, but when she didn't feel anything she opened her eyes. She was surprised to see Ryuji standing there and taking the full force of the blow. Ryuji stumbled away from the man before dropping down to his knees.

"Skull!" Ann exclaimed as she ran to approach him.

"The pitiful fool took the full force of my attack without even thinking. No matter, it will just make it easier to dispose of all of you" the man said as he once again raised his weapon.

He was about ready to swing when movement caught his eye.

"What the hell are you doing here you bitch?" The man said causing everyone to look in the direction he was facing.

"What do you think you are doing Shikora?" Evan asked as he hesitantly approached the dark man.

"Disposing of some pest who decided to stick their noses in where it doesn't belong" he said as he turned his attention back to the group.

He once again raised his weapon and aimed it at Ryuji who was still struggling to get back up onto his feet.

"I think I'll start with this runt" the man said as he laughed and prepared to swing.

Evan yelled and ran at Ryuji pushing him out of the way before Shikora's shadow swung his weapon and sent Evan flying back into the wall. Before Evan even had time to pick himself up, Shikora's shadow was standing over him and picking him up by his neck. His hand started to tighten around Evan's neck as Evan clawed at his hand trying to release his grip.

"I should have left you where I found you, you miserable piece of shit. You don't deserve any of the things I have given you" the shadow spat out at Evan as each word sunk deeper and deeper into him.

He gasped for breath as he felt the hand tighten around his throat more, choking the life out of him. Sweat poured down his forehead as he frankly clutched at the hand hoping to bring some relief to his oxygen deprived lungs. As he started to feel light-headed, he closed his eyes and remembered everything up to what was taking place now. ' _I don't want to die here'_ Evan thought to himself as he started to feel himself going limp.

"Finally!" a voice exclaimed causing Evan to open his eyes.

"You've come to the realization that there is more to life than death and despair" the mysterious voice said.

"I was waiting for you to come around so that our contract could be formed. I am thou and thou are I. You have discovered that there is more to life than death, so how about we teach this guy a little something of our own?" The mysterious voice continued on as Evan started to regain his energy.

"I couldn't agree more!" Evan exclaimed as he lifted his feet and kicked Shikora's shadow away from him and dropping to his knees. Evan stood up and started to rip away at the mask that was now covering his head before screaming from the pain.

"Lets do this Nataraja!" Evan yelled as his attire changed and his persona came forth. Everyone looked on in awe as they stared at Evan's persona. His persona was holding a drum in one hand while he had fire in the other. Evan smirked as he looked up at Shikora's cowering shadow.

"For the last couple of months, I have felt like dying, but after today and spending time with a fellow student, I realized that there is more to life than just wanting to die. I may not have a family anymore, but that doesn't mean that I can't make one for myself. It all doesn't have to end here, and I am going to make sure of that by putting an end to your crimes!"

As Evan said this he pointed at Shikora's shadow, who nervously called for his guards to deal with everyone before he made his escape. Evan tried to run after him but was stopped by his guards. Looking back, he saw that everyone else was too hurt to be able to fight, and they wouldn't be able to retreat with these guards hot on their tails. Evan smirked as he got an evil glint in his eyes.

"Well then Nataraja, I guess it is time that we show our true might!"

With that Evan started fighting the shadows. One shadow went in for a hit, but Evan dodged it and reached out for Nataraja's hand. Nataraja grabbed a hold of Evan and threw him up into the air. While he was up in the air, Evan pulled out a sniper rifle and aimed at the shadows. He locked onto the first one's head and shoot it, landing a critical hit before he fell back down and was caught by Nataraja. Once he landed he called out for Nataraja to use hysterical slap on the other shadow, causing it to become enraged. The shadow tried to attack, but Evan dodged it and once again reached out for Nataraja's hand. He was again thrown into the air and pulled out his sniper rifle and shot the other shadow in the head causing a critical hit. With both of the shadows hurt from critical hits, Evan went for an all-out-attack and disposed of the shadows. Once he was all done fighting, he ran over to the others who were finally back up onto their feet.

"Are you all okay?" He asked as he approached them.

"We are now" Makoto reassured him as she gave him a smile.

"Dude you totally kicked ass" Ryuji said as he gave Evan a pat on the back.

"You really saved us" Ann said as she smiled at Evan.

"What were you all doing here?" Evan asked as he looked at all of them.

"Here isn't the place to discuss that," Makoto said as she started to make her way for the exit, "we should discuss this somewhere else."

"What about Crossroads?" Evan suggested as he followed them out.

They were all in agreeance as they made their way out of the metaverse, and then headed on over to Crossroads. Lala-chan saw them all enter and gave one of her famous disapproving headshakes.

"Does this look like a spot that highschoolers should be hanging out at?" the queen asked as she put out her cigarette.

"Please excuse them Lala-chan, they are my friends that I made at school and they wanted to see where I work" Evan lied knowing full well that Ryuji, Ann, and Akira already knew that he worked there.

"It's whatever, just don't stay here too late" Lala-chan said as she already started getting them all water.

"You're the best Lala-chan!" Evan exclaimed as they all grabbed a table.

They all sat around a table and waited for Lala-chan to drop off their water before discussing anything. As soon as they had their water, Evan decided to speak.

"So, who wants to go first?"

Everyone looked at one another before taking a big sigh.


	2. Chapter 2

They all sat around a table and waited for Lala-chan to drop off their water before discussing anything. As soon as they had their water, Evan decided to speak.

"So, who wants to go first?"

Everyone looked at one another before taking a big sigh.

"As I told you we were in a place called the metaverse" Ryuji started as he settled part of the tension between everyone. "Some people can have palaces in the metaverse when their desires in the real world become too distorted."

"Listen to you sounding so smart for a change" Morgana chirped in causing the blonde to growl at him.

"Can it whiskers, I can remember things when I want to" Ryuji spat out as he looked over at Lala-chan walking over with their waters.

"Here you all go!" Lala-chan exclaimed while looking around the table at all of them. "Dears you all looked exhausted. Did something happen?"

"Nothing that is really worth mentioning" Makoto interjected before Ryuji could say anything.

"I guess the stress of our upcoming tests are just getting to us" Ann followed up with as she took a sip from her water.

"You poor things" Lala-chan said as she rubbed Evan's shoulder and looked around at the group. "I saw you with the blonde one in here early, but I'm curious as to who the rest of you all know him."

"Akira and I are in the same class as Evan, so that was really how we all got along and got to know one another" Ann said trying to charm Lala-chan with her horrible acting.

"I met him while at the art museum, it would seem that Evan here as a very refined palate when it comes to art" Yusuke stated before Lala-chan could comment on Ann's behavior.

"Being that I am a year above all of them, I help them with issues at school and studying for their exams" Makoto finished while taking a sip from her water.

"Well it's nice to see Evan surrounded by people who treat him right."

Evan winced at Lala-chan's words remembering that he was going to have to head home at some point and face the wrath of Shikora. With that Lala-chan released Evan's shoulder and started heading back over to the bar to deal with a few of the regulars who were there.

Once Lala-chan was far enough away, Morgana popped up out of Akira's bag and started explaining everything further. "As Ryuji was saying, we were in a palace in the metaverse. That palace is owned by your boyfriend as we found out through the interaction that took place the other night while we were all here. How he perceives others in the real world is honestly displayed in his palace. In order for us to completely change him, we have to change his heart."

Evan nodded as he listened and took everything in. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as he sighed. There was a lingering question that was forming in his head that he was a little scared to ask, but he knew he needed to ask it.

"Is there a chance that we are going to see what his cognition truly thinks of me in his palace?"

Morgana was a little surprised and looked at everyone else. Ann reached over and grabbed onto Evan's hand knowing full well what it is like to encounter yourself in someone else's cognition. Ryuji leaned over and just nodded knowing that a simple nod would be just as good as a verbal response. Evan squeezed Ann's hand and gave Ryuji a nod.

"Well whatever it may be, I'll be ready for it" Evan responded before giving them a look of confidence.

"I think for now it would be best for us to all head home and meet up somewhere around here tomorrow before we head back into the palace" Makoto explained as she started grabbing her bag.

"Why don't we just meet up here at Crossroads?" Evan suggested knowing that Lala-chan will berate them a little but not kick them out.

"What if someone sees us" Ann asked as she looked around at everyone else.

"Hardly anyone is here around the time that we get out of school, so there would really be anyone here to see us" Evan replied easing some of Ann's fears.

"I can attest to that since we came here after school and it was pretty much just Evan, me, and the drunk reporter chick at the bar" Ryuji confirmed completely erasing any fear that Ann had.

"Well than I guess it is settled, we will be meeting here after school tomorrow" Makoto said as her and everyone started gathering their stuff to leave. Evan nodded and went to go and inform Lala-chan that he and the others would be hanging out in the bar after school to get work done.

"You and your friends better not cause any trouble" Lala-chan said as she puffed on her cigarette.

"If it makes you feel any better, you could allow us to use one of the side rooms so that we can do our work and not bother your patrons" Evan suggested innocently trying to persuade Lala-chan.

"That's a good point" Lala-chan stated as she put her cigarette out and thought about it.

"It's settled then, you kids can use the first side room to hangout and do your work" she said and smiled at Evan. She had no idea what Evan's intentions were, she was solely basing all of this off the fact that it would be good for Evan to start regularly hanging out with friends from school.

"Thank you so much Lala-chan" Evan said before turning around and realizing that everyone but Ryuji had left.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye" Evan stated as he sadly picked up his school bag.

"They were kind of worried about making their trains to get home" Ryuji said as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Thanks for waiting at least" Evan said to Ryuji with a slight smile.

"Well truth be told I need to get to my train as well, but I wanted to make sure that you would be okay heading back to your apartment." As Ryuji said this he looked straight at the floor. He didn't want Evan to see the look of worry on his face. Unfortunately, he failed because Evan didn't need to see his face to hear the worry in his words.

"In all honestly Ryuji, I'm scared to go back there tonight. I just don't know where else I could go for the night to let all of this blow over" Evan replied looking off into the distance. He was a bit better at hiding his emotions than Ryuji.

"You could stay at my place" Ryuji stated almost whispering as he rubbed his arm nervous of the reply that he would get.

"I don't know if your mom would be okay with you having someone over so late" Evan replied trying to elicit the response that he wanted from Ryuji.

"Well she wouldn't have a choice in the matter if we get there after all the trains are stopped for the night" Ryuji replied and looking over at Evan for his response.

Evan smiled hearing exactly what he wanted to hear. "Well than I guess we should get the trains before we are both stuck out here" Evan said smirking.

Ryuji nodded and led the way to the train station. Luckily, they did get there before the last train had left so they were going to make it to Ryuji's in time. While they were on their way, Evan sent a text to Shikora letting him know that he would be back tomorrow after his temper had subsided. All he got back from Shikora was a whatever. Evan put his phone down and felt something heavy on him. He looked over to see Ryuji had already passed out and due to his weight and how he was leaning landed on Evan. Evan stared off into space wondering what would have happened if he and Ryuji had not talked today. Images of Shikora feigning to hit him flashed through his mind and he shivered at the thought. His little body jerk didn't go unnoticed though. It woke Ryuji up, who wiped the drool from his mouth. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus to see that they were both still on the train. He looked over to see Evan sitting there quietly waiting for the train to stop.

"You okay?" Ryuji asked with a slight gruff to his voice from waking up.

"Yeah, just a cold chill" Evan lied as he giggled at Ryuji's change in octave.

"Laugh it up while you can because you're going to hear it again tomorrow" Ryuji groaned out as he started to stretch. Evan watched him as he stretched before they heard a ding and a voice come over the intercom warning them of their approaching destination. Ryuji reached down and grabbed him bag before standing up and offering Evan his hand to help him up. Evan took it and stood up just in time for the train to stop and them to get off. Evan followed Ryuji off the train and too his place not really talking as he took in all of the different buildings that they past.

"So I uh didn't mention this before….but we only have two bedrooms so you can sleep in my room or on the couch" Ryuji stated as he opened up the door to the apartment and taking his shoes off at the door. Evan followed suit and looked around the darkened apartment.

"Whatever you think would be best" Evan replied as he took his shoes off as well and followed Ryuji into the kitchen.

"I'll just have you sleep in my room. It'll be easier because my mom will see the second set of shoes, but she won't bother me before she has to go to work" Ryuji said as he opened the fridge.

"Not bother you about what" came a calm and sweet voice from the other room.

"Mom!" Ryuji exclaimed as the room was illuminated and a slender woman made her way into the kitchen.

"Well I would hope it is just me" his mom said with a chuckle before turning and looking at Evan. She gave Evan a once over before asking who he was.

"I'm one of Ryuji's friends from school," Evan started as he turned his attention to Ryuji's mother, "I'm sorry to be a bother but I'm new around here and haven't gotten the train schedules down. I ended up missing mine and had no way to get home, so Ryuji offered to let me spend the night so that I would have some place to stay for the night."

Ryuji looked at Evan dumbfounded at the fact that he was able to come up with something on the fly like that. What surprised him even more was the hug that his mother wrapped him up in after hearing what Evan said.

"That's my Ryuji," she started before kissing his cheek, "he may be a troublemaker, but he always puts others before himself."

Ryuji blushed as Evan started to giggle. To diffuse the situation before it got more embarrassing for him, he asked his mother if she would be able to whip them up something to eat since they skipped out on dinner to study. Ryuji's mother gave him a look of suspicion considering it wasn't like his son to actually study for school. Instead she turned her attention to Evan and gave him an analytical look as she asked him if that was true.

Not knowing how well Ryuji's mother was at reading others, Evan decided to go the honest route. "Not entirely. It's been a little hard getting accustomed to school since I just recently started at Shujin Academy. I haven't really made any friends, so Ryuji went out of his way to hang out with me and we lost track of time. I'm sorry, but it was nice to actually connect with someone from school."

Ryuji's mother playfully hit him and berated him for lying to her. Before she told them to go and get washed up, she looked at Ryuji and said, "you know you could learn a thing or two from him in the honesty department." Ryuji just rolled his eyes and agreed with her before showing Evan to is room.

"Honesty my ass" Ryuji exclaimed as he closed the door behind them and shot Evan a look.

"Hey, don't hate the player, hate the game" Evan replied as he laughed and threw up his arms in his defense. This in turn caused Ryuji to laugh a little as well.

"But seriously though, how did you come up with all of that while being watched like a hawk. Didn't you feel nervous?"

"Well to be honest, I kind of went off of the truth and off some of the things that you told me. The whole train situation was the perfect cover because everyone knows that they stop after a certain time, and I am new to the area. As for the whole studying thing, I technically didn't lie because you did meet up with me after school to talk and what not."

"You might be the first person who has actually used my words in your favor, and that goes for me as well. I can't form a sentence to save my life without it usually backfiring in my face" Ryuji said as he stretched out on his bed and grabbing a gaming controller.

"Does this have to do with the belittling statement that the cat made earlier at Crossroads" Evan asked as he sat down next to Ryuji and grabbed a controller as well.

"It just always feels like everyone is shooting down my ideas and are quick to go with someone else's" Ryuji admitted not realizing how good it would feel to finally get that out in the open.

"Well I listened to you and trusted you" Evan reminded him hoping that it would cheer him up a little.

"You know what, you're right!" Ryuji exclaimed as he started to smile and turn on his gaming system.

"How are you with shooting game" Ryuji asked as he started up his video game.

"Well if my skills from the palace can translate over to this game, then I would have to say good" Evan replied as he gave another chuckle.

"That is true" Ryuji stated remembering back and playing the scene over in his head again of Evan sniping both shadows with a sniper rifle.

"Well, let us hope that they do translate over" Ryuji joked as he pushed start on the game and got them all set up for a co-op shooter. As the two got more and more engrossed in the game, they weren't ready for the knock-on Ryuji's door that made Evan practically jump out of his skin.

"Your food is done" Ryuji's mother said in her calm and sweet voice as she opened the door. When she looked in she was a little surprised to see Ryuji and Evan so close. Evan was about in Ryuji's lap and clutching his chest.

"My poor heart" Evan croaked out as Ryuji started laughing and moving away from him.

"Better hurry before I eat it all" Ryuji said looking back at Evan and approaching the door. Before Ryuji knew what was happening, he felt a strong sting at the back of his head and turned around to see his mother giving him the death stare.

"I made that for both of you so don't you go hogging it all" she lectured him before walking off towards her room. Now if was Evan's turn to chuckle as he snuck past Ryuji who was too busy rubbing the back of his head.

As they ate they decided to switch over to a movie and relax back on Ryuji's bed. Evan finished his food rather quickly and looked over at Ryuji who was chowing down on his noodles with his eyes glued to the screen. It took him a little bit until he finally look over and saw Evan staring at him.

"Can I help you?" Ryuji asked between chomps of his noodles. Evan giggled a little and waited for Ryuji to swallow before he decided to ask his question.

"So, I understand how the whole going to the metaverse and changing our looks and what not goes, but one thing they left out is how you change a person's heart. Would you mind explaining it before we head to bed?"

Ryuji gave Evan a look and decided to set down the rest of his food on his bedside desk. "To put it simply, you send the individual a calling card in which will make their treasure show up so that we can take it and eventually they will have their change of heart. Each person is different with how long it takes for them to have their change of heart."

"How does this calling card cause the treasure to materialize?" Evan asked sitting up a bit straighter now highly interested in the topic.

"I'm not exactly sure" Ryuji started as he grabbed his food again, "I just know I'm usually the one to write them. Since Makoto has joined the team she has helped me write them, and if I had to guess the initial threat of having their distorted desires taken away is what probably causes their treasure to appear." Once he finished talking he went back to eating his noodles and watching the movie.

"You know if you applied half of what you know about the metaverse to your school work, I think you'd do just fine in school." As Evan said this he closed his eyes and started to chuckle, so he never saw the pillow coming and was knocked right off of the bed.

"You know you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes" Ryuji grumbled out as Evan laid sprawled across the floor laughing harder than he was. After Ryuji finished his food he grabbed both his and Evan's dishes and took them out to the sink. Evan remained back in his room and took the opportunity to stripe down to just his boxers and shirt. Once he was finished he climbed into Ryuji's bed and curled up on the far side of the bed. Ryuji decided to make a quick pit stop in the bathroom before heading back to his room. As Evan waited for the Ryuji to get back and turn off the light, he felt his eye lids start to get heavy as the activities from the day started to take its toll on him.

Ryuji walked back into the room and was about to ask Evan what he wanted to do now, but was surprised to see him curled up on his bed and sleeping softly. Ryuji chuckled to himself and stripped down to his boxers and shirt before turning on the light and hopping into bed. As he laid there waiting to drift off to sleep, he thought about the first time that he went into the metaverse and how tired he had been afterwards. Evan was a pretty strong kid for him to last so long after going to the metaverse. Even Makoto felt like all of her energy was drained when she first went to the metaverse. There was something different about this kid and he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he was happy that they had the chance to get a little closer. With that, Ryuji felt his eye lids start to fall, and instead of fighting it he let them fall until they were closed. The only thing he could hear as he drifted off was the soft breathing of Evan next to him and the low hum of the movie disk still in his game system.

Evan awoke the next morning feeling uncomfortably warm. When he tried to move out of the bed he felt a heavy weight keeping him down. He reached his hands up to his eyes to rub the sleep out of them. To his surprise there was a layer of sweat covering him from how hot he was. What was even more surprising was the mound of blonde hair laying on his chest. He looked around the room trying to get his survey where he was. He saw a few track trophies along the wall and continued looking around until his eyes landed on a photo of a teenager and his mom. Evan squinted at the photo and recognized Ryuji straight away and pieced together where he was. He couldn't believe he had forgotten where he was.

Evan looked down again and saw Ryuji still sound asleep on his chest. The heat radiating off Ryuji caused Evan to sweat more than he usually does in his sleep, but the warmth felt nice for a change. Evan laid his head back down and groaned a little bit not wanting to wake him up, but he knew they both needed to start getting ready for school. Evan reached down and started running his hands through the slightly damp hair and nudging him a little.

"Ryuji, we gotta get up and get ready" Evan said in a husky voice. His voice hadn't been that deep in a while, and he blamed it the fact that it was morning. He felt Ryuji start to stir and thought that he was getting up, but instead felt his arms wrap around him as Ryuji rolled over onto his stomach and nuzzled into his chest.

"Just five more minutes" the boy groaned out not ready to get out of bed yet. Evan giggled and told Ryuji if he wanted to stay in bed for five more minutes he could, but he wanted to go shower. Once Evan made that comment, Ryuji thought about how he worded it.

"Then go and get in the shower" Ryuji told him half-asleep.

"Well I would, but a certain someone has themselves wrapped around me" Evan laughed out as he watched Ryuji lift his head up and look up at him. It took a few seconds for Ryuji to realize that it wasn't his pillows that he was nuzzling into, and that it he pleasantly warm because his room was warm. He was nuzzling Evan's chest and was warmed by his body heat. Ryuji jumped back away from Evan and apologized as he blushed and hid his face in his pillows pretending to go back to bed.

"No need to apologize. Bodies travel in their sleep and yours just happened to roll over onto mine" Evan smiled at Ryuji before looking around and blushing. The room went silent for a little as Evan now felt more embarrassed trying to work up the courage to ask the question that made him fall silent.

"Uh Ryuji, my shirt and boxers are too soiled to wear to school," Evan could feel his ears starting to burn from the embarrassment as he continued, "so would it be okay if I borrowed some boxers and a shirt?"

As Evan asked his question Ryuji listened. It wasn't until he heard the last part of it that his eyes shot open. He had never really shared his clothes with someone else. He didn't know how he felt about Evan wearing his clothes, and if they would even fit because he was a bit taller than Evan. Ryuji rolled over and sat up in his bed and looked at Evan to see the boy was unable to make eye contact with him. Ryuji didn't need to see his face to know how embarrassed he was because he could clearly see just how red the tops of his ear were.

"Well we can't have you free balling at school, and if you sweat without and undershirt everyone will be able to make out your form so yeah go ahead."

Evan thanked Ryuji before pulling the first pair of boxers and the first shirt out of his dresser. He hurried out of the room and made his way to the bathroom where he could shower and be alone with his thoughts. Ryuji just laughed and stretched as he pulled himself out of bed. He reached down and scratched his washboard abs before walking out into the kitchen and grabbing himself some breakfast. Ryuji thought about how interesting it was going to be if anyone saw Evan's undershirt. Ryuji loved his shirts to have designs on them, and Evan was more of a plain shirt under his school uniform. He took care of his dishes before heading into his room to grab his clothes for the day.

Evan ran his fingers through his hair and he tried to shake away his embarrassment. ' _You have nothing to worry about. It's not like Shikora is going to check your clothes when you get home_ ' Evan thought to himself as he suds up his body and rinsed it. He had no problem wearing Ryuji's clothes because it wasn't his first time wearing someone else's clothes, but it was the first time it was someone's clothes that Shikora seemed threatened by. ' _To think he would think Ryuji and I were doing stuff. That boy is as straight as straight comes_ ' Evan thought to himself as he finished up his shower and started to dry off. He wiped off the mirror to look at his reflection and zoned in on a red mark that was a few centimeters about his left nipple. That mark wasn't there yesterday, and the only way it could've gotten there is if Ryuji had done it while he was dreaming.

Evan scratched at the mark and shook his head before splashing water on his face. He looked over at the boxers and shirt he grabbed from the dresser and blushed a little. The boxers were black and had little skulls on them, and the shirt was Ryuji's usual red shirt with the yellow star on it. Evan thought about giving it back, but didn't want Ryuji to see the mark on his chest. He quickly threw on the shirt and boxers, left his towel in the dirty clothes bin, and walked out of the bathroom right into something solid. Evan fell to the floor and landed with a soft thud. When he looked up he saw Ryuji standing there in nothing but his boxers and a towel over his shoulder.

"Fuck, are you okay?" Ryuji said as he offered Evan his hand. Evan could hardly articulate a sentence as he mumbled out a response and grabbed Ryuji's hand to help him up.

"Now I see why I couldn't find my favorite shirt" Ryuji said as he gave Evan a once over in it.

"I can take it off if you want me to" Evan apologetically said as he started reaching for the seams to pull it up over his head.

"Nah, leave it on," Ryuji said grabbing his hands and stopping him, "I know I'll get it back from you so no harm no foul." With that Ryuji went into the bathroom and started to shower and get ready. Evan went back to Ryuji's room and pulled on his pants and grabbed his bag. He looked around for his dress shirt and couldn't find it to save his life. He shook his head in dismay and thought about just how many eyes were going to be on him today at school. Everyone knew this was Ryuji's shirt, and what is worse is after the palace today he was going to have to go to his apartment. His stuff for work was still there from when Shikora had dragged him out of the bar.

He grabbed his jacket and started putting it on when Ryuji came in wearing his usual uniform. He grabbed his bag and turned to Evan and was looking at his reflection in Ryuji's television.

"Don't worry, you look fine" Ryuji said starting to laugh at Evan's dilemma.

"It's not how I look, I'm just nervous about what others will say, and what will happen if Shikora suspects that this is yours" Evan confessed realizing that he would have just been fine telling him about Shikora and not the other students.

"Who cares what the other students think Evan. You wear that shirt better than I do, granted it is a little big on you, but you still pull the look off. As for Shikora, if that lousy bastard sets his hands on you just give us a call and we will be over to help you. You may have just joined the phantom thieves, but the good thing about us is that you never have to feel alone. We will be there for you. Now we need to get going before we miss the only train that will get us to school on time."

Evan nodded and thanked Ryuji for lessening his fears. They got their shoes on and went to the train station and got the first train towards their school. Along the way, instead of pulling out his book and reading, Evan decided to talk to Ryuji about possibly spending the night again and playing video games. He was so used to just going to school, going to work, and going to sleep that it felt nice to hang out with someone his own age. Don't get him wrong, he loved the relationship he had with Lala-chan, but it wasn't the same as another teenager who enjoyed the same things as him. Ryuji told him that he would have to talk to his mom about it, but for the most part he didn't have a problem with it.

When they arrived at school, Evan said his farewell to Ryuji. Ryuji was a bit confused and asked him why he wasn't going with him to see the rest of the group. Evan told him that he had no problem with the rest of the group, but he wanted to go and see Mishima. Evan knew that this was partly the truth and Ryuji shrugged and bought it. What Evan was keeping from Ryuji was that he didn't want the others to see him in his clothes and question him about it all day. Once he saw that Ryuji was joined up with Ann, Akira, and Makoto, Evan made his way to his classroom and took his seat behind Mishima.

"Morning Mishima" Evan said in a rather cheery voice that surprised him.

"Isn't that Ryuji's shirt?" Mishima asked completely ignoring Evan's greeting and starring at Evan's shirt.

"Yeah, we were hanging out yesterday and I didn't want to go home. Stupid me forgot to pack an extra shirt for today and I couldn't find my dress shirt to put over it" Evan fidgeted with the sleeve as his jacket as he responded. Mishima just looked at Evan and say that he was a little red. Mishima took that as embarrassment for forgetting to pack extras instead of picking up on what was truly making him turn red. Deep down, Evan didn't know why, but he was happy that someone noticed that he was in Ryuji's clothes. Maybe it had to deal with the fact that he was the bad boy that everyone was supposed to steer clear off, or maybe it was because he got to wear it before some random bimbo Ryuji ended up with got to wear it. Regardless, he was happy for a change and smiled up at Mishima.

"Well, I'm happy that you had fun. Ryuji can be a bit much for me sometimes" Mishima confessed as he thought about the time that he and Ryuji almost got caught with Akira when they decided to call the number of the maid service Ryuji found in the mail.

"It was change from the usual, and I know that you are aware of my usual" Evan said recounting seeing Mishima's face when Shikora stormed into the bar and dragged him out.

"Yeah I do" Mishima winced also recounting the incident and hearing the slap that connected with Evan's cheek that night still ringing in his ears.

Just as Evan was about to ask Mishima about his day yesterday, Ann and Akira walked into the classroom and looked over at him. He gave them a friendly wave which resulted in a nod from Akira and a wave back from Ann. They started to walk to their seats and Evan looked away, so he never saw Ann stop dead in her tracks and stare hard at Evan noticing the shirt that he was wearing. Ann made her way to her seat and pulled out her phone and decided to message Ryuji through the group chat since it was the first set of messages on her phone. She didn't have to worry digging through her messages to find when she last texted Ryuji.

Why the hell is Evan wearing your favorite shirt Ryuji!? (Ann)

Oooooh this is going to be good (Futaba)

He stayed the night last night because he didn't want to go home (Ryuji)

Is there something wrong with that? (Ryuji)

No, but you could have at least warned the rest of us! (Ann)

I can only imagine that conversation Kawakami is going to have with him when she sees! (Ann)

You remember how she was when Akira was hanging out with you when he first got her (Ann)

Well she can get over it! (Ryuji)

I was helping a friend out and he didn't have a change of clothes (Ryuji)

Ryuji being helpful? I never thought I'd see the day (Futaba)

That was nice of you Ryuji. I'm sure he appreciated it (Yusuke)

Now is not the time to be discussing this. (Makoto)

This chat is supposed to be for our phantom thieves stuff (Makoto)

Now pay attention to your classes we have our exams coming up and as the Student Council President I will not tolerate any of you failing (Makoto)

Oh man, do you have to remind us about that (Ryuji)

Yeah we all already know that you're going to have to talk to Ryuji (Futaba)

Can it you hermit! (Ryuji)

Ann put her phone away and looked over at Evan again who was deep in conversation with Mishima again. He looked so content and happy, which was different than what she normally saw. Sure, Evan was usually conversing with Mishima, but he always seemed a bit more reserved and didn't smile as much as he was now. She decided to drop the matter for now and would talk to him about it later either before or after they went to the palace. Evan watched as Kawakami walked into the classroom and sighed. She wasn't too thrilled to be teaching to them and looked more like she needed a couple more hours of sleep. Kawakami stared up from her desk and was about to talk when she saw a red shirt with a yellow star on it. She was about to yell at Ryuji to get out of her classroom and head to his own, but stopped when she looked up and saw that the body in the shirt was not the blonde-haired punk, but the red-headed newbie that had recently joined her class. She just shook her head and started her lecture reminding herself and pulled Evan aside to talk to him after class.

As the day dragged on, Evan seemed to lose his focus as he realized that he and everyone would be going to the palace again today. He was excited to learn more about the metaverse and dig deeper into Shikora's cognition in hopes of making the abuse stop that was happening to him. Before Evan knew it the bell had rung and he was putting his stuff in his bag to get ready to leave. As he stood up, he came face to face with Kawakami. He was nervous because the teacher never ever approached him before, not even at his old school. He looked over at Ann to see her staring back at him and giving him a reassuring look that made Evan feel a bit better.

"Can I talk to you in my office?" Kawakami asked in a very dull voice. To Evan it sounded almost as if she wasn't even human.

"Sure" Evan replied as he followed her to her office.

"Listen, I just happened to notice that you are wearing Ryuji's shirt. Now, I have no business knowing what is going on between you two, but I do want to warn you that he is nothing but trouble. Just make sure you are careful, okay?" Kawakami never made direct eye contact with Evan as she talked to him, preferring to stare at the clock instead.

"I understand Kawakami, and no need to worry. I just missed my train yesterday and he offered me a roof over my head for the night" Evan replied back checking to see if anyone was waiting for him and seeing Ryuji hanging back near the stairwell.

"Well, I'm happy to hear that he helped you out, but you really should be more responsible and learn the train schedule" Kawakami said as she shrugged and told Evan that he could go. Evan thanked her and made his way of the Ryuji telling him what happened. The two started laughing and making their way down the stairs. Hearing the laughing Kawakami looked over and saw Evan with Ryuji. ' _I need a vacation away from all these kids'_ she thought to herself as she grabbed her stuff and started to head home.

When Ryuji and Evan arrived at Crossroads, Ann and Akira were already there with Makoto. Ryuji walked over to the others and was informed that Futaba and Yusuke were on their way there. They apparently missed their first train because Futaba had a small breakdown with how many people were at the station. Evan went over to Lala-chan and told her that they were going to be there for most of the afternoon.

"That's fine hunny, but what's up with the new look" Lala-chan stated as she pointed at the shirt that Evan was wearing.

"I forgot to take a change of clothes to Ryuji's, so he let me borrow a shirt. I didn't feel comfortable going back to the apartment last night so he let me stay with him for the night." Lala-chan listened intently as Evan spoke and shook her head causing Evan to make a face.

"Sweetheart be careful playing with fire" Lala-chan warned him as she started cleaning her glasses for later tonight.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked and took a seat at the bar.

"Hunny, I see the way you look at that boy. It's the same way I look at my patrons when I want them to pay a few extra tips so I make more money. Don't set yourself up to get hurt because it is going to be a lot harder to get over your feeling later-on. You need to nip them in the butt now."

Hearing this Evan looked over at the group of four as they chatted, and as if he felt his gaze watched as Ryuji looked over and gave him and Lala-chan a smile.

"I don't honestly know what I'm feeling Lala-chan, but to be completely honest, I'm happy that I can feel anything at all" Evan replied as he looked back at the purple-haired queen getting a small smirk from her.

"I don't know much about feeling either, unless it is a certain pain in my ass news reporter who never leaves" Lala-chan muttered as she glared over at Ohna.

"You know you love me" Ohna slurred as she giggled and took another sip from her drink.

"Sometimes I feel like her tolerance is higher than her tab" Evan said as he gazed over at the black-haired report and getting a chuckle from Lala-chan.

"Respect your elders" Ohna yelled at Evan before turning her attention to her phone. Evan took that as his cue to leave and went to go and join that others at the table. He decided that he would take them all to the room together so when they next meet up they can all get there separately. Once he got to the table he picked up on the moods of everyone very quickly. It was mostly tense between Ann and Ryuji because Evan didn't sense anything from Akira and Makoto. Evan didn't feel like talking much, so instead he moved closer to Makoto and laid his head down on her.

"What are you doing?" Makoto gasped out a bit frazzled by Evan's approach to laying on her.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm relaxing while we wait" Evan replied as he nuzzled into her. A part of him knew he was doing this to try and defuse the situation between Ann and Ryuji. Another part of him knew that he was also doing this to try and get a reaction from Ryuji. He opened his eyes slightly and looked over to see that it had indeed gotten a reaction from him because he was starring daggers at him.

"When are they going to get her" Ryuji bellowed out as he sank down in his chair.

"Who us?" Yusuke asked as he sat down next to Ryuji and Futaba sat down next to Evan.

"Is she really that comfortable?" Futbaba asked Evan as she looked how he was relaxing on Makoto.

"You have no idea, and her hair smells amazing" Evan replied as he sat up and looked over at Makoto who was blushing and trying to get everyone back on track.

"Okay so now that we are all hear would you care to lead us to our room" Makoto asked as she turned to Evan.

"No problem, just follow me" Evan said as he stood up and led everyone to their hideout. No one could hardly believe that they were going to have a hideout here in the Red Light District as they got themselves situated.

"Now then," Makoto started as she turned and addressed everyone, "our objective is to find where Shikora is hiding his treasure so that we can send him the calling card. We need to be able to secure our route and essentially retrieve his treasure."

"Sounds like a plan, but do we have a deadline?" asked Ann as she went over everything.

"Well this target isn't like our others where we would have a deadline, so I think it would be best if we do it before we leave for Hawaii" Makoto responded with a bit of hesitation in her voice.

"That only gives us like a week" Ryuji exclaimed and looked around the table at everyone.

"Well then I guess we better get started then" Evan replied as he stood up from the table.

"Hold on, nancy-boy here needs a code name before we take him in" Futaba said ushering towards Evan. Evan giggled having never been called a nancy-boy before, and oddly enough it didn't really phase him or upset him.

"Just call me Diva and call it good, we can't spend too long on this because we need to get going" Evan responded and looking around the table. Everyone looked at Morgana who just kind of shrugged and agreed with the code name. Ryuji pulled out his phone and put in the coordinates for the palace. Once they were there they all decided that it would be best if Ryuji, Morgana, and Evan went with Akira.

"Make sure you show Diva the ropes Joker, and Skull try not to do anything too reckless" Panther said her Fox and Queen stayed behind to make sure they weren't followed by any shadows. Skull was about to make a smart remark back at Panther when Diva grabbed him and pulled him away from her. They started making their way through the dungeon until they approached the stairs where they had encountered Shikora's shadow the first time. Once again there was a shadow blocking their way, so they were going to have to take it out in order to proceed. They decided to sneak up on the shadow and surprise it. After Joker had ripped off its mask, two shadows materialized and attacked. Joker and Skull made quick work of them and the group proceeded through the door.

"This place seems more like a sex prison than a sex dungeon" Mona stated as they made their way past jail cells of several different young men and women in different stages of undress.

"Is this his cognitions way of saying that he gets off on making them feeling like his prisoners" Diva asked as he peered into one of the cells frowning.

"I'm not sure, but I am sure that his cognition views them as his prisoners" Mona responded and turning his attention to Diva.

"Are you going to be okay?" Skull asked as he sets a hand on Diva's shoulder and squeezes it.

"I'll be fine, I'm just wondering what his cognition might think of me if his cognition views his clients as his sexual prisoners" Diva replied shaking off Skull's hand and continuing-on. As they made their way through the first floor of the dungeon they noticed that there wasn't a lot of shadows around.

"I guess these must be clients who he knows will never speak out in public so he feels he hardly needs any guards for this floor" Diva stated as they found a door that had a bit of distortion to it.

"You might be right assuming that" Mona said as they all heard Oracle state that there was a safe room next to them. When they entered the safe room, Diva's eyes got a little big.

"Why does this area look like my bedroom at the apartment?" Diva asked as he looked around and saw just how similar the two areas were.

"It looks like your bedroom because it is your bedroom. His cognition must not have distorted this area so it became a safe space" Mona replied and relaxed on Diva's bed.

"We can't stop now though. I can only imagine that the next level will have more guards than this area" Skull replied as he stretched out in a chair and looked around at the group. They all agreed and continued on down to the second floor of the dungeon and, just as Skull predicted there were a good amount of guards on the floor. Surprisingly enough there wasn't a lot of prisoners, but the ones that they saw were recognizable from some of their favorite shows that they watched. There was one that caused Skull and Mona to do a double take and walk over to her cell. Unfortunately, it was a trap and the two were quickly scooped up into a net. Diva and Joker jumped back, but Joker jumped too far and got himself shoved into a cell by a shadow. Panther, Fox and Queen heard the commotion and were making their way towards the room when spikes shot up from the ground keeping them from advancing.

"You're all such naïve fools to think that you could nonchalantly waltz through my dungeon without getting trapped" came a rather familiar eerie voice.

"I can hear him, but I can't see him" Diva exclaimed as he got into a defensive position facing the shadow.

"That's because this is his dungeon," Mona stated, "he probably has cameras and speakers all over this place. I should have seen this coming. I'm such an idiot."

"You're right" Skull agreed as he struggled against the net that he and Mona were trapped in.

"Can it Skull, you've been to just as many palaces as me and should have known too" Mona argued.

"Can we all stop arguing and focus on the problem at hand" Queen yelled from the doorway where the spikes were keeping her, Panther, and Fox from entering.

"Diva are you going to be okay?" Panther asked starting to worry that he had no backup.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I guess it's time to show this asshole why you don't mess with a Diva" Evan exclaimed as he called out for his persona, Nataraja, to come to his aid. Seeing his persona made the shadow change into his actual form.

"Be careful Diva, this one is strong" Oracle warned reading the enemy and trying to get a feel for his attacks.

"He'll be ashes when I'm done with him," Diva growled as he pulled out his chakrams, "lets light'em up with agi Nataraja." With that Nataraja exploded his fire onto Diva's chakrams as he held them up. Once they were set a blaze, Diva prepared himself to attack.

"Launch me!" Diva yelled as he jumped back onto Nataraja's hand. Nataraja grabbed Diva and launched him towards the enemy. As he was flying through the air, Diva started spinning and held out his flaming chakrams, enveloping him in a ball of fire that clashed into the shadow causing him to cry out in pain as he was burned and sliced up by Diva's chakrams. Diva jumped away from the shadow laughing and standing up tall.

"Fuck I love this" Diva giggled with an evil glint in his eyes making Mona and Skull gulp.

"Mona how was that possible?" Skull asked having a hard time understanding how out of everyone there, Diva was the only one able to physically be grabbed and thrown by his persona.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I don't know everything" Mona bantered as he stared on to watch the fight.

The shadow recovered from Diva's assault and made a sneak attack knocking Diva back a little bit. The Shadow jumped back, and to his dismay, watched as Diva started laughing.

"You misunderstand me if you think a weak hit like that would do any damage to me" Diva spat out as he stared daggers at the shadow.

"Nataraja come to me and use hysterical slap" Diva exclaimed as with lightning speed his persona attacked the shadow knocking it back. Without giving the shadow time to counter, Diva jumped back onto Nataraja's hand again and was launched into the same fire ball he made the first time. The only difference now was that the shadow was weakened to the point where Diva tore threw him and caused the shadow to completely evaporate and disappear.

"God that is such a rush" Diva moaned out and blushed. Everyone just looked at him completely astonished. They have seen such an amazing display of power, with such a lewd appeal to it. Diva completely disregarded their stares and looked around until he found a switch. He hit it and the spikes keeping Panther, Fox, and Queen from entering retracted into the floor. As they were making their way over to Diva, he threw one of his flaming chakrams at the net and cut the ropes watching the two fall down to the floor with a loud thud.

"Get off of me you heavy ape" Mona yelled out as Skull landed on top of him.

"Not like you're any better when we are in the palaces" Skull spat back as he helped himself up and dusted himself off. Diva made his way over to where the shadow was and found a key He picked it up and walked over to Joker's cell and unlocked it letting him out. With everyone free, Diva stood back and asked if they were all okay. Everyone just mumbled a response and nodded unable to make direct eye contact with Diva.

"I'm sorry if I got a little caught up in the moment" Diva apologized and blushed staring at the floor.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just happy you're on our side" Panther said as she gave Diva a smile. This in turn caused Diva to smile and the group decided to continue their way down the second floor of the dungeon. With more and more shadows popping up, the group felt it best to talk only when necessary. For Diva it was a bit too much because every second just felt like awkward silence.

"Hey Joker," Skull said breaking the silence and pointing off towards an open room, "a chest."

"A chest?" Diva asked as they entered the room and he saw a square box sitting on a bench.

"Yeah, they usually have items in them that come in handy during infiltrations" Mona responded and looked over Joker's shoulder as he popped the chest open.

"Anything good?" Skull asked as he approached the opened chest.

"Nah, just a few beads" Mona responded as he hopped off of Joker's shoulder and started heading back for the door. Skull looked at Diva, who was still wrapping his head around the whole chest thing, and gave him a shrug. Diva gave him a shrug back and started laughing. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do because a couple of shadows stormed into the room and surrounded them.

"What's the plan?" Skull asked out as he felt himself back up into something. He turned around to see that it was Joker. He looked around and spotted Mona off to his other side, but could not seem to spot Diva anywhere. As one of the shadows made a move at the group, they all heard a yell and then movement out of the corner of their eyes. Diva had gotten up on the bench and, with a running start, jumped off of the bench at the shadow. He wrapped his legs around the shadow and pulled out his Chakrams, thrusting them up into the shadow's jugular and slicing as he propelled himself backwards towards the rest of the group. To their surprise the shadow disappeared and turned the odds in their favor.

"Don't just stand there! Fight!" Diva yelled out as he whipped his chakrams at another shadow and started charging at it.

"Hell yeah!" Skull exclaimed as he pulled out his weapon and clobbered the shadow that Diva had struck with his chakrams. Joker looked over at Mona, who gave him a reassuring nod, before the two moved as fast as lightning striking to take out one of the other shadows. Soon enough, all the shadows were taken care of and everyone was putting their weapons away. Panther, Queen, and Fox showed up at the door breathing heavy.

"Oracle told us you were surrounded?" Ann started then ended as a question when she looked around the room and saw no one but the other four.

"Where the heck is the ambush?" Queen asked as she approached them.

"We took care of them" Skull said rather smugly.

"Don't flatter yourself stud, it took all of us to take them out" Diva nonchalantly stated causing Skull to stop his glorifying pose.

"If it wasn't for Diva thinking on his feet, we probably would have needed your help" Mona said as he smiled up at Diva. Diva gave him a reassuring nod before grabbing Skull and pulling him out of the room. Everyone watched them and were a little confused, but Diva, being the observant person that he was, saw the change in Skull's face and thought it best to not have him blow up on Mona and get them surrounded again. Once they were out in the hallway, Skull pulled and turned around to face Diva with his face still scrunched up full of attitude.

"I only pulled you out of the room because the last thing we need is everyone getting surrounded" Diva whispered making sure Skull knew that he wasn't fazed by his attitude.

"Yeah, well what does that cat know anyway" Skull said in defeat and kicking at the ground.

"He knows enough and has helped us get this far has he not?" Diva asked as he walked around refusing to let Skull sulk.

"I guess" Skull admitted as he looked up at the ceiling and then back down at Diva.

"So, are we good?" Diva asked giving Skull a little smile.

"Yeah" Skull chuckled as he and Diva headed back into the room. Ann noticed them and waved them over. Apparently while they were out of the room, the group had decided to change up who would be helping Joker.

"Skull and Diva, you guys are switching places with Queen and Panther" Joker told them as the two just looked at each other and shrugged. At least they get a chance to relax a little. With nothing else to really discuss, the groups changed up and they continued through the second floor of the dungeon. Skull made idle chat with Fox as Diva seemed to be off in his own world. Now that Diva was on stand-by and making his way through the dungeon with the second group, he was able to take the time to reflect on some of what he has seen.

From what he could tell, this dungeon was most likely going to be at least three floors. As they continued on through the second floor, Diva was able to recognize some of Shikora's different clients that had some pretty good roles on different television shows. Did that mean that everyone they encountered on the first floor were stars waiting to make it big and those that had given in but not received the parts they were promised? Is that why some of them looked like they were lined up outside of an office, and others were locked up in cells? It could also explain why there was hardly any guards on that level. Shikora didn't see any of those clients as threats because he probably figures if they do talk, no one is going to believe them because they have nothing on him. These clients down here are starting to become well-known though, so are these guards signifying the people in the industry who are keeping his secrets?

Diva was pulled from his thoughts when he heard his actual name being called. He looked around and saw no one and knew that it would be too risky for his companions to be calling his name. He shook it off and heard Oracle tell the others that they had found the stairs for the third floor. Diva was about to start heading to catch up with the others when he heard his name called again. He looked around again, and this time saw a suspicious hallway that hadn't been there the first time. He looked ahead and saw the others discussing something among themselves, so he decided to head into the hallway. Skull started looking around and noticed that they were missing one person. He began to look around when he saw movement from down the hallway. He tried to call out for Diva, but watched as he disappeared through one of the walls.

"Diva wait!" Skull cried out before he took off towards where he had disappeared. Skull being faster than everyone else, left them all behind to look at one another in confusion.

"We don't have time for this" Mona complained, "the treasure is close. I can feel it!"

Everyone chased after Skull to find that he had followed Diva down a surprise hallway. Ann questioned why they hadn't spotted it before, to which Mona had no answer but suggested that they follow to where ever it went. Diva continued down the hallway until he came to a stairwell. The stairwell led down to the next floor, but gave off a very creepy vibe. He folded his arms across his chest and hugged himself to not only protect himself, but to keep himself warm as he started to descend the stairs. Something was off about all of this, but he just could not shake this feeling that was stirring up in his gut. Once he finished descending the stairs, he found himself in a narrow hallway. He continued down that hallway until he approached a door. He reached for the knob and turned it feeling the entire palace shake as if something had moved.

Skull was continuing down the steps trying to catch up to Diva. He knew he hadn't known Diva for long, but it seemed out of character for him to go off on his own. Panther, Joker, Fox, Queen and Mona all stopped as the hallway they were going down started to turn and they were cut off from the path that skull had taken.

"What's happening?" Queen exclaimed as she froze and felt herself lock up.

"The floor is moving" Panther shrieked as she also froze and locked up.

"It's creating a new hallway that should still take us to the third floor" Oracle quickly mentioned to try and ease some of the panic from the others.

"How can this be happening?" Fox asked as he looked over at Joker and Mona.

"Now is not the time to worry about that, we have to get out of here and figure out where Skull and Diva went" Mona stated as he and Joker started to head down the new hall that had been created by the movement. Panther, Queen and Fox all shared a look before heading after them. Oracle stayed behind a little to try and work out the schematics of this new hallway.

Dive walked into the spaciously lit room and looked around. To his surprise there was no one in there, or so he thought. He made his way around the room and noticed that there was another set of doors on the far side of the room.

"I knew you would come" came an eerily confidant voice. Diva turned around and came face to face with Shikora's shadow. "I should have known that by calling you by your real name, it would have led you here."

"Well it doesn't matter if this was a trap. I'm not as weak as you think I am" Evan spat out at him as he started to pull out his chakrams.

"Oh, how splendid," Shikora's shadow giggled as he clapped his hands together and his lips creeped up into an evil smile, "I've been needing a good show." With that Evan felt weak and the last thing he saw before black, was Shikora's shadow approaching him.

Skull had just reached the bottom of the stairs and without hesitating continued on down the narrow hallway. It was right at this time that Mona, Joker, Queen, Panther and Oracle had found themselves behind an air vent.

"It smells weird in here" Panther complained as they peered through the vent into a spacious room.

"Look!" Queen yelled as she pointed down towards the middle of the room where two beings were.

"It that Fox and Skull?" Panther asked as she got a little closer to the vent cover. Apparently, she hadn't realized how close she was because she bumped it open and almost fell out into the room. If it wasn't for Joker catching her, she would have been in trouble.

"Something's not right here" Oracle stated as her fingers started flying across her keyboard.

"Yeah, why are they just standing down there" Panther stated looking down at Skull and Diva.

"No, them standing there is not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about are these scans that I'm picking up from Diva" Oracle stated as she turned her laptop around for everyone to see.

"His scans are going haywire" Queen stated before looking down at where their other two team members were.

"Every one of his senses is acting up and not accordingly" Oracle said as she turned her laptop back around and started striking her keys as quickly as she could. Fox looked over and noted that Diva had drawn his weapons.

"Guys we have bigger problems" Fox exclaimed pointing at the two as Skull was now drawing out his weapon.

"What the hell is going on down there" Panther shrieked as she watched the two charge at each other.

As if on cue they all heard chuckles ringing around the room. "Did you all like my surprise?" Shikora's shadow's voice asked through a com?

"What the hell did you do?" Queen asked as she averted her gaze from the scene that was taking place below them.

"Oh boo, you're not as enthusiastic about this as I am. As you can see, your dear Evan has been brainwashed. While you all were busy trying to find your way to me, I was busy concocting some lovely potions. What you see before you, is what happens when I leaked my pheromones potion out from the very vent you are standing in. You see, Evan is incredible strong and agile here in the metaverse, so close contact was not an option of getting the pheromones into his system. Once they are in though, they are highly potent; however, they are only potent to anyone who is sexually active. I knew they would take effect on Evan considering he's good for nothing but sex. The true question is if any of you are capable of defeating him. As he told me before it was lights out for him, he isn't as weak as he used to be."

"What does your pheromone potion do to people?" Oracle asked as she gritted her teeth.

"Oh my sweet dear I thought you would never ask" Shikora's shadow gleefully said. "Just one does has enough potency to cause a frenzy within its victim. The person will become belligerent and erotic. If you thought Evan was scary before when he took out my guard, wait until you see him jacked up on pheromones. He could level a semi-truck with the amount of rage that is courses through his system right now. The best part is, there is so much in his system, I'll be surprised if he'll ever calm back down."

"You're a monster" Panther spat out.

"I'll take that as a compliment" Shikora's shadow flatly responded before cheering back up. "I hope you all enjoy the show just as much as I do."

"We got to get him out of there and figure something out" Queen said with a bit of concern crossing over her face and turning to Joker. Joker gave her a nod as he started to formulate a plan.

Skull entered into a highly lit room and saw Diva standing in the middle of it staring at the floor. He quickly ran over to Diva.

"Diva are you okay?" He asked as he finally caught up to him.

"Get back!" Diva shouted as he sent Skull back towards the door.

"What the hell!" Skull yelled as he pulled himself up to his feet and looking over at Diva. It was at that moment at Diva looked up from the floor and Skull saw sweat and tears pouring down his face.

"Somethings happened to me, and I can't fight it anymore" Diva wailed out as he started to shake.

"What are you talking about?" Skull asked as he tried to slowly approach Diva.

"Shikora got me right where he wanted me. He did something to me and it caused me to black out. When I woke up I had this hot feeling spreading all over my body. I've been trying to fight it and I think I completely understand what he wanted." With that Diva dropped his head back down to the floor and started to reach for his chakrams. With what little bit of mental strength he had left he started to shake and speak to Skull again. "No matter what happens, please don't think differently of me. You need to win." Skull just looked on as he watched Diva's body start to convulse a little. As if a switch had been flipped, Skull watched as Diva's body jerked up right and the two were now making eye contact.

Skull saw the lustful haze shrouding Diva's eyes as he started to laugh and whip his chakrams around.

"I hope you brought your A-game stud, because baby's hungry for something more than a spanking" Diva laughed out as he started to crouch down. He looked as if he was getting ready to pounce onto his prey.

Skull looked on in disbelief before he shook his head and started to pull out his weapon. ' _You're doing this for Evan'_ Skull told himself and he looked over at Diva's soulless form.

"Come at me!" Skull yelled out as he lunged at Diva, taking the first swing. Diva easily dodged it and dug one of his chakram's into a table to stop himself from sliding too far away from Skull. After he had stopped himself he threw the other chakram and nicked Skull's shoulder as he rolled out of the way. Skull thought the roll was a good maneuver until he felt himself get forcefully stopped. Unbeknownst to him, Diva had thrown his other chakram and it had pinned his ascot down to the floor keeping him stationary. Diva pounced on Skull and started to grind in him crushing his entire lower region and causing Skull to groan out in pain.

"Oh come now big boy, it can't be that bad" Diva hissed out as he leaned over and licked at Skull's cut where he was nicked. Diva bit his lip and groaned in pleasure. "You taste just as good as I thought you would."

Before anything else could happen, Skull found the energy and power to get his legs folded up in front of Diva. With as much force as he could muster, he kicked Diva as hard as he could and sent him flying into the nearby wall. Skull reached over and ripped the chakram out of the floor and unpinned his ascot. He rolled himself over and hopped up to his feet, but to his dismay Diva was already standing in front of him.

"I love it when my man gets a little rough" Diva moaned out as he started swinging at Skull and landing a few hits before landing a roundhouse kick and sending him up onto the table. Diva ran over and grabbed his chakram that Skull have removed from the floor and turned around as quickly as he could. Skull was still trying to recover when he heard a shriek and looked up to see Diva flying towards him. He quickly rolled out of the way and watched the chakram slice through the table where his chest had been.

"It's even sexier when they still have some fight in them" Diva called out as he rolled over onto Skull and wrapped his hands around his throat. Skull immediately reached for Diva's hands to try and pry them away, but to no avail as he felt his breathing start to slow. Determined to do what Diva had asked him, Skull frantically looked around for anything that was still on the table and in arms reach. The only thing he could find Diva's chakram, so he reached for it and desperately tried to pull it out of the table. He slowly started to feel himself getting lightheaded, but that was when he finally felt the chakram give and he jammed part of it into Diva's side. Diva immediately screamed out and removed his hands trying to reach for the chakram, but was thrown off when he felt a hand grab at his shirt and bunch it up. Before Diva knew what was happening, Skull he headbutted him and threw him onto the floor.

With the weight lifted off of his chest, and the hands off of his neck, Skull took a deep breath and got himself off of the table. He started to look around the room to see what he could do. Unfortunately, and without him realizing it, both doorways now have spikes sealing them shut. He was trapped in this room with a drugged-up friend who was trying to kill him.

"They're going to kill each other" Panther cried out as she watched in horror as Skull kicked Diva away and into a wall.

"If we don't do something there is a good chance we are going to lose one of them" Queen stated as she looked over at Mona and Joker for assistance.

"Our best bet is to get Skull out of there while he still has the energy" Fox said as he tried to look around the room at anything they could use.

"Well there is a long table below us" Mona mentioned as he pointed at it to show everyone.

"Ryuji used to be on the track team. Do you think if it that table was broken down into a ramp?" Panther stated and asked looking at Mona and Joker.

"Our best bet is to get him to do that and with his momentum, jump up and grab for one of our hands so that we can get him out of that predicament" Joker said as he turned around to Oracle for assistance.

"Based off of Diva's recovery and speed, his best bet is to somehow find a way for Diva to break the legs and turn it into a ramp. If not he'll be a goner because it will take too much of his time and energy" Oracle told Joker as she finally looked up from her computer.

Their gaze was broken when they heard a scream come from below them. They all turned to look and saw a chakram sticking out of Diva's side, and preceded to watch as Skull pulled Diva close and headbutted him. They watched as Skull threw Diva to the side of the table and get off of it.

"Now or never" Mona said as they watched Skull look around the room. Joker nodded and prepared himself.

Skull was just about ready to give up, when he heard someone calling his code name. He looked around and didn't see anyone, so he decided to look up and that is when he saw everyone standing in a giant vent. He looked over to see Diva was still dazed from the headbutt and struggling to get up so he ran towards the vent and looked up.

"Skull you need to listen to me because we don't have much time" Joker started as he also looked over to see that Diva was still delirious but now had the chakram out of his side. "You need to get Diva to break the legs of this table so you can run up it like a ramp. Hopefully you'll have enough momentum to jump up and grab one of our hands."

Skull nodded and turned around to see that Diva was back up and now had both of his chakrams in his hands. Skull readied his weapon, and tried to think of how he could get Diva to throw one of his chakram's low enough to break the table legs. Diva made a move towards Skull, who in turn backed himself up to the table to rolled over it to the over side.

"Don't try and between things between us baby" Diva giggled as he jumped up onto the table effortlessly and dived onto Skull. Skull tried to make a run for it but was stopped and felt all of Diva's weight on top of his back. Diva started to grind himself into Skull's ass as he pulled his head backwards by his hair. Skull cried out and shivered a little when he felt Diva start to nibble on his earlobe.

"Don't tell me you're trying to leave already," Diva whispered into his ear, "there's so much more that I want to do to you." Skull screamed out as he felt Diva dig his teeth into his neck and start to bite and chew on it. Skull swung his arm back and elbowed Diva making him release his neck and fall down neck to him. Without skipping a beat Skull slid around and kicked Diva away from him, sending the boy sliding into a wall. Skull made his way onto shaky feet. He turned around to see that Diva had already made his way to his feet and was preparing his chakram. In a split-second decision Skull ran for the table and dived underneath it. Diva threw one of his chakram's and sliced the table legs off officially making the ramp, but charged after Skull. Skull thought that he was in the clear when he slid through onto the other side of the table, but to his dismay was trapped beneath his weight. Diva had landed on his chest and was now rubbing his crotch all over his face.

"Once I get a taste for battle, I don't want it to stop" Diva moaned out grinding his crotch deeper into Skull's face practically suffocating him. Skull apologized in his head for what he was about to do, but he needed to get out of that room. With all the movement that he had, Skull pulled his head back and butted into Diva's crotch as hard as he could. Once again, Diva screamed out and Skull pushed Diva off him. Skull knew this wasn't going to be enough though so he quickly pulled Diva too his feet and grabbed his weapon. He swung it around as hard as he could until he felt he had enough force and swung up under Diva's chin practically upper cutting him. Diva went flying backwards as Skull made his way to the far side of the room and looked over to see Diva scrambling to try and recover. Skull shook his head and apologized before running at full speed towards the ramp.

As he started to make his way up the ramp, he launched himself as far up the wall as he could and reached with both hands. Luckily someone grabbed his right hand and held onto him for dear life. Skull looked up to see that it was Panther as everyone started pulling on her to help get him out of the room. Once he was into the ventilation duck he couldn't bear to look at anyone and quickly just sat down with his head in his hands.

"Are you going to be okay?" Panther asked as she sat down next to him. Skull was unable to bring himself to answer instead he just settled on shaking his head. Panther looked up at Joker and gave him a look.

"We need to get back to the main hall of the third floor so we can continue you" Mona stated reminding everyone of what they were there for.

"Yeah, but we can't just leave him down there" Queen said ushering to Diva who was now thrashing around the room and destroying things looking for Skull.

"Someone will need to stay behind and wait for the pheromones to leave his system" Fox stated while crossing his arms.

"I'll do it" Skull said without lifting his head from his hands.

"You're in no condition to be left behind" Panther exclaimed as she tried to get Skull to look at him.

"I don't care about that" Skull said as he stood up and walked over to the ventilation entrance. "I promised him that I would win, and I failed." Skull just shook his head and looked away from the tattered room still not looking at his teammates.

"If you stay behind, someone else will be staying with you" Joker said with a firm tone in his voice letting Skull no that there was no point in arguing about it.

"Fine" Skull dejectedly said as he sulked back down in the ventilation duct.

"I'll do it" Panther offered as she looked over at Skull.

"No, you'll be needed with everyone else," Oracle stated, "I'll stay behind with him. When things are all settled I will be able to navigate us back to your location."

"That sounds like our best course of action" Mona said before starting to head back towards the main hall.

"It's up to you Oracle" Panther said before taking one last look at Skull and leaving with Mona and them.

"You guys can count on me" Oracle called after them because siding up next to Skull.

"I'm not going to force you to talk about it, but I just want to let you know that I'm here to listen" Oracle told Skull as she started to fiddle around with her laptop again.

"He has been through so much," Skull stated before he felt his voice crack a little. Hearing the crack in his voice caused Oracle to sit up and look over at him. Skull was looking off into the distance and shaking his head, but his head wasn't turned far enough away because Oracle could see the light from the room reflecting off something near Skull's eyes. "I don't know if I would have what it takes to continue on the way he has. He doesn't really have anyone but us, and yet he still finds a way to smile. His is able to take so much because he is used to it in real life. Shikora's cognition knew that and used it against him. Even in a place like this, he is still under Shikora's control. He's such a rat bastard. I cannot wait for him to have his change of heart because Diva deserves so much more than what he has right now."

Oracle looked over at Skull in disbelief. She said that she wasn't going to talk, but she couldn't help herself.

"You like him, don't you?" She asked in a hushed whisper.

"I don't know" Skull confessed as he finally looked over at Oracle. She could now see that what the light was reflecting off was his tears. "What I do know is I don't think I would have the same kind of strength as him if I was in his shoes."

Oracle, being new to human interactions, knew what she needed to do. She pulled herself away from her computer and wrapped Skull in an awkward hug. Skull surprised her by leaning into the hug and laying his head on her shoulder. Realizing that this had taken a turn that she was not prepared for, she quickly removed her hands from Skull and pushed him away. Skull chuckled a little and asked if it was too much, to which Oracle responded with a head nod.

"Thank you for listening to me" Skull said as he wiped at his eyes and stood up starting to stretch.

"You're welcome" Oracle said as she smiled up at Skull. Skull slowly made his way over to the ventilation duct opening and looked down to see Diva staring up at him with the lusty haze still shrouding his eyes. Deep down he knew that Diva was going to get through this. He just had to keep believing.


	3. Chapter 3

"Thank you for listening to me" Skull said as he wiped at his eyes and stood up starting to stretch.

"You're welcome" Oracle said as she smiled up at Skull. Skull slowly made his way over to the ventilation duct opening and looked down to see Diva staring up at him with the lusty haze still shrouding his eyes. Deep down he knew that Diva was going to get through this. He just had to keep believing.

"You Pig" Panther yelled as a shadow slammed into her causing her to fall back on her butt. She quickly hopped back up onto her feet and called for Carmen as the shadow was set ablaze by Carmen's agilao skill. The shadow screamed out as it was burned and disappeared.

"There are so many shadows here" complained Fox as he dusted himself off after another countless battle the group had gotten into.

"Well he is a producer, so this might be a representation of the lackeys that he has keeping his secret" Queen surmised as she took a look around the hallway to see if there were any more shadows. Not having Oracle focusing on the schematics of the room they were in was proving to be difficult.

"That is possible considering we are getting closer to where his treasure is located" Mona added in as he looked around at everyone.

"How is everyone doing?" Joker asked trying to get an assessment on the team.

"I can feel my stamina draining with these endless battles" Panther started as she stretched herself out, "and without Skull, Diva, and Oracle it has been pretty difficult."

"I would have to agree, I think it best if we find a space to rest for a bit until the others are able to catch up with us" Fox suggested as the group shared an agreeing look.

"I just hope the others are okay" Ann said as she trailed off and looked down the hall hoping they would just magically appear.

"It's best if we not focus on that right now and try and regain some of our stamina before the others get here" Queen stated as she looked for a potential save room that might be in the area. Mona and Fox followed her leaving Panther standing and staring. Joker was about to follow as well until he saw that Panther wasn't moving yet. He walked over to her and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"They'll be here as soon as you know it" Joker reassured her as she turned and looked up at him a little teary eyed.

"Deep down I know that, but I've never seen Skull so shook up before" As she said this, Panther looked away from Joker and wiped the wetness from her eyes before the tears started to run down her cheeks.

Joker, not knowing exactly what to say, continued to give her a look and squeezed her shoulder again in a reassuring way before pulling her close and walking down the hallway with her. Ann has known Skull far longer than him, so he was not sure what words would truly cheer her up.

"Down here!" Queen yelled as she popped her head out of a door and waved at Joker and Panther. The two of them made their way to the room and entered awaiting the return of their other team members.

The sound of keys clicking rapidly tore Skull from his slumber as he started to wake and rub the sleep from his eyes. Oracle looked over at him and couldn't help but giggle.

"What's so funny?" Skull questioned as he stretched and scratched at his flat stomach.

"Oh nothing sleeping beauty" Oracle joked as she closed her laptop and stood up.

Skull looked around, temporarily forgetting where they were, and took in his surroundings. He quickly jumped up to his feet when he recognized the ventilation duct and looked around for the opening into the room below. He quickly ran over to the opening and peered out to see a lifeless form sprawled out on a couch bellowing sleeping. In the dim light of the room you could just make out which way Diva's head was on the couch. Unfortunately, he was lying face down, so it was going to be hard for Oracle and Skull to tell if the trance was over or not.

"How long has he been out?" Skull questioned as he turned back towards Oracle who was studying something on her phone.

"Roughly about the same amount of time as you" Oracle stated without looking up from her phone.

"That doesn't help me" Skull moaned in annoyance as he turned back around and looked at the boy below.

"If I had to guess and give a number, you've both probably been out for half an hour or so" Oracle said as she put her phone in her pocket and walked over to the opening in the ventilation duct. Skull looked over at her and sat back down waiting for any movement to happen below.

"So, why did ya put your computer away?" Skull asked trying to keep the conversation going. Oracle just looked over at him before leaning up against the opposite wall.

"The others haven't moved in about ten minutes, so there was no need to waste the battery. They probably found a safe room to wait in."

Skull nodded before looking over and seeing Diva now sitting up on the couch and holding his head. It appeared that he was looking around the room in confusion. Without giving the boy any time to get his bearings, Skull started calling out to him.

"Heya Diva, you okay?"

Diva looked up to see where the voice was coming from until he saw an opening in the wall. He squinted a little for the dim lighting and could just make out a figure waving to him.

"Skull is that you?" Diva asked as he made his way up onto shaky legs. For some odd reason he hurt all over and his head was pounding as if he had a hangover.

"Yeah it's me" Skull shouted as he leaned down and reached out over the edge of the ventilation duct, "If you plan on joining us up here, you're going to have to run up this make-shift ramp and jump."

Diva just nodded as he tried to get his footing and took a chance to really take in the room. There was broken furniture all over the place and any furniture that was still intact had gouges and marks covering them. The walls also were marked up as he made his way over to the far side of the room from the ramp. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, mentally preparing his body for what was sure to be a bit painful for it in its most recent state. Once he felt that he was ready, Diva's eyes flew open and he made a mad dash for the ramp. As he ascended up it, he jumped with all of his might and reached out grabbing both of Skull's hands. Skull pulled the light boy up into the duct and looked over at Oracle, who was now pulling her laptop back at.

Diva sat off to the side on his knees and laid his head down on Skull's shoulder. "I don't know if I have the energy to keep going Ryuji." Hearing his real name stated caused the boy to look over at Diva. He grabbed Diva's arm and put it around him on his opposite shoulder before picking the boy up onto his feet and grabbing him around the waist to hold him upright and close. Skull could feel just how lethargic the boy was in his current state and gave a concerned look over to Oracle.

"Do you know if we have a clear path from here to the others?"

"I can't tell" Oracle stated as she started typing away at her keyboard and studying her screen intently. "My best guess is that we shouldn't encounter much. It looks like the others took out a great deal of the shadows leading up to the save room."

"That works for me, just stay behind us and get us to them quickly" Skull said as he started walking towards the hallway carrying Diva to the best of his ability. It's not that Skull couldn't do it, it was just awkward to be more so dragging someone along then carrying them. Diva was so tired that he couldn't even take his own steps, so his feet would just drag as Skull made his way down the hallway.

"Turn right here" Oracle said breaking the sound of Diva's feet dragging across the duct. Skull nodded and made the right walking a little further down the duct until they emerged into the middle of a hallway.

"This place is so confusing" Skull groaned as he hoisted Diva back up and made sure that the boy was still with them.

"Are we almost there?" Diva asked in a low tone.

"We should be there in a few minutes according to my navigation" Oracle chimed in before Skull could say anything.

"Thank goodness, I'm sorry for being such a bother Skull" Diva said as he rested his head back down on the boy again.

"No worries Diva, I'm just happy you're safe" Skull said as he started leading the small group down the hallway. They were making good time despite Diva being unable to control his body properly. Oracle knew this was probably due to the activity that his body sustained while induced by the drug that was in his system. She wasn't sure how long it would take for it to completely leave his system for him to recover properly, but once she got with the rest of the group she was going to suggest they leave for the day and continue tomorrow.

Just as they were entering the hallway that Oracle marked as the location where the rest of their group was, a shadow popped up and charged at the small group. Oracle yelled, causing Diva to open his eyes up wide and see the charging shadow. Skull cursed under his breath as he realized that he only had a few seconds to make a decision. He knew he needed to defend the weaker two, but he would have to drop Diva to the floor in order to do that and the boy had already been through so much. His decision was made quickly as the shadow swung and Skull put his arms up to block the hit. By doing this he let Diva go, and the boy fell down to the floor in a heap.

"Get him out of here!" Skull yelled back at Oracle as the girl stood there petrified.

"I can't lift him up" Oracle yelled out finding her courage and running over to Diva desperately trying to pull him away from the fight.

"God damn it" Skull yelled out again as he pulled out his weapon and surmised a new plan. "Go and get the others Oracle. I will keep this shadow busy and away from Diva long enough for you all to get back here."

"But you can't possibly defeat this enemy on your own" Oracle wailed in disbelief.

"I know that" Skull said as he whipped his arms around getting them loose, "but I can at least buy you some time to get to the others and get them here. Now, stopping fighting me on this and get going!"

Oracle nodded and started running off towards the safe room that everyone else was in. Skull locked eyes with shadow before it transformed into a stronger being.

"No way am I going to give up" Skull started as he looked briefly over at Diva, "I'm not just protecting myself at this point. Lets do this captain!" Skull shouted as his persona emerged out of nowhere on its ship. Skull called out to Captain Kid and lighting came crashing down on the shadow causing it to wail out in pain. Luckily, the shadow was shocked from the attack, so Skull took the opportunity to grab Diva and put him up against a wall a safe distance away from the fight. By the time Skull had turned around and was heading back towards the fight, the shadow had regained its composure and had started singing causing Skull to fall asleep.

Oracle burst through the doors of the safe room startling the inhabitants. She was breathing heavily and looked quickly around the room to see all eyes were on her. Panther was clutching her chest as she jumped up to her feet.

"What the hell Oracle" she stated as she started walking towards the shorter girl.

"Skull….shadow…Diva…trouble….now" Oracle sputtered out between breathes leaving the group confused.

"Wait what about Skull and a shadow?" Queen asked as she approached Oracle and put a hand on her back in a comforting way hoping it would remind the poor girl to breath.

Oracle took a deep breath and looked over at Joker. "Skull was leading Diva and I here when a shadow came out of nowhere and attacked us. He sent me ahead to get you all while he stayed behind to distract the shadow and protect Diva." The group all shared a look before grabbing their things and heading out of the door.

"Awwwwww fuck" Skull yelled out as he went reeling backwards into a wall as the shadow landed a hard hit. "Is that all you got you bastard" the blonde taunted as he made his way back up onto shaky legs. "I've taken harder hits to my ego than that." Skull charged at the shadow and missed getting knocked back again.

Diva started coming to and looked around the room to find himself in a different room. He was scared that he was alone until he heard a loud thud and looked over to see Skull laying on the ground trying to make his way back up onto his two feet. Diva started to make his way up onto his own two feet and noticed that some of his strength was coming back. He was started to get his bearings down when he heard a loud yell come from Skull. He looked over to see the remnants of a powerful wind attack disburse critically injuring his friend. Skull laid there for a few minutes before slowly crawling towards the closest wall to get himself back up onto his feet. No way was he going to let some shadow annihilate him. The shadow gave a cocky grin and watched the pathetic blonde intently. He decided to wait for him to reach the wall and get up on his feet.

Surprisingly, it didn't take Skull long to make it to the wall and stand back up. He walked a few feet away and turned around to see the shadow staring daggers at him. Before he could do anything, Skull watched as the shadow prepared another strong wind attack and sent it flying at him. Bracing himself for the attack, Skull closed his eyes and waited for the attack to hit, except it never did. He decided to peek and open up one eye to see Diva standing in front of him facing him. With the rest of the strength that he could muster, Diva charged out in front of the attack and endured the damage. Diva falter and did a quick step towards Skull before completely falling forwards. Skull threw his arms out to catch him as the two collide and Skull fell down to the floor.

"How sweet of him to take that hit for you, but why take out one when I could take out both at the same time" the shadow said as he started approaching the two boys.

"The hell you will!" a voice shrieked out causing the shadow to turn around. Before he had time to act he was being shot at by various different guns. With the element of surprise on their side, Panther, Joker, Queen and Mona all attacked causing the shadow to scream out in agony before disappearing. Fox and Oracle ran over to Skull and Diva trying to assess the damage that the two had sustained. The last thing Skull remembered before passing out was the concerned look on Panther and Joker's faces as they approached the two.

Ryuji woke up and looked around to find that he was somewhere he had never been before. He could hear the light chatter of the others close by as he sat up and stretched out. Evan was laying on another cot next to him, but he was still sound asleep. Ryuji got up out of the cot he was in and made his way towards the voices. He pulled back the blanket covering the doorway and shielded his eyes as the light poured in and blinded him.

"Look who decided to join the land of the living" Makoto said as she looked over at the blonde.

"How are you feeling?" Yusuke asked as he took a sip of tea from the glass he was holding.

"I mean, I've felt better, but where the hell are we?" Ryuji asked as he scratched at the top of his head.

"That would be my place hunny" came a familiar voice from the next room over. As if on cue, Lala-chan emerged from the doorway carrying another cup of tea. "Make yourself comfortable for the time being if you insist on waiting for Evan to wake up like the rest of them." As Lala-chan said this she offered the tea to Ryuji, who thanked her and sat down on the couch next to Ann. The minute Lala-chan left the room and went into the kitchen, Ryuji turned to the rest of the group confused.

"How the hell did we end up hear?" he whispered so that Lala-chan wouldn't hear him.

"Well, after you and Evan passed out we needed to make an immediate evact out of the palace" Makoto stated before looking back to see if Lala-Chan was still busy in the kitchen. "You and Evan took a lot of damage Ryuji and when we left the palace we ended up in the next alley over. It wasn't easy but we managed to get the two of you back to Crossroads and lied to Lala-chan so she would allow us a place to let you both rest. In all actuality we all needed a rest. What were you thinking Ryuji?"

"If you think I wasn't, you'd be wrong" Ryuji started before stretching out again and feeling just how sore his body was from the palace. He though Kamoshida's practices were rough when he took over the track team, but this felt five times worse.

"My thought process was to protect Futaba and Evan no matter the cost" as Ryuji said this he looked back at the room he had just left where he knew Evan still was. Ann was about to say something when they heard Lala-chan's voice from the next room over. She was having a conversation with another over the phone, but they couldn't hear who the other individual was.

"Hello?"

"That would be me. How can I help you?"  
"Yes Evan is one of my workers. He is a little busy at the moment, so can I have him give you a call a little later?"

"I know he didn't go home, he was very busy and asked to stay over and insisted on working today after he went to school."

"No worries hun, I'll be sure to send him home when he wakes up."

"You too, bye-bye"

As she hung up the phone, everyone went back to drinking their tea and casually chatting. She emerged from the next room with her own cup of tea and sat down in a chair where she could face everyone. "I know you all were listening to me, and for the record that was Evan's boyfriend. I assume he is the one that you all are after?" The group shared a nervous look as Lala-chan gave them all a knowing look before she chuckled. "I thought so. It's okay though, your secret is safe with me. I would like to know the truth behind what happened to my Evan. He is such a hard worker and with the way things are happening at home I feel a little protective over him. I was very shocked when you brought him to me unconscious, but I was happy to see that the rest of you were okay."

Everyone just looked at each other before all eyes directed themselves at Makoto. "Oh, come on guys, don't do this to me." Makoto begged not wanting to be the one to explain everything to Lala-chan. Makoto took a deep breath before looking over at Lala-chan and started explaining everything. The entire time Lala-chan just listened and nodded causing everyone to get a little more anxious as to what was going through her head.

"So you all are the Phantom Thieves that everyone, including Ohya, are obsessed with?" As Lala-chan asked this, she looked around the room at all of the defeated faces as they all shared a nod.

"It's okay, your secrets are safe with me. It's just nice to see that Evan has a group of such caring friends. Makes me happy even if some of the work you guys do is dangerous, but it can't be as dangerous as the living situation he is in right now."

"Thank you Lala-chan" Makoto started before everyone else joined in with thanking her. She just smiled and heard the clock start to go on the other end of the room.

"Well kiddies, that chiming means that it is getting late and you all have school tomorrow. I know you all wanted to stay and be here when Evan woke up, but it would be best if you head home. I'll be sure to tell Evan to message when he wakes. Do we have a deal?" She looked around the room again and, like before, was met with defeated looks. Everyone grabbed their bags and started to head out as Ryuji went back into the room where Evan was to grab his things. He gave one last look at the boy before picking up his bag and heading to join the others.

Evan woke up to a dark room and stretched out. He didn't know where he was as he shuffled out of bed and walked towards the doorway. He pulled the blanket back and walked out into the open area where there was a note on the table.

"Evan,

Your friends brought you over and wanted to wait to talk when you woke up, but you were pretty tired and ended up sleeping past the last trains. I had to send them all home. They are expecting you to text them when you wake up, and I told them I would make sure that you did. Unfortunately, you also managed to sleep past my own sleep schedule. Your boyfriend called, and I told him I would send you home after you woke up. Please be careful and I will see you later.

Sincerely,

Lala-chan"

Evan smiled at the note and went back into the next room to grab his things. Everything felt so surreal, and his head was still a little fuzzy from the palace. He blacked out a lost a good chunk of time. He remembered Ryuji helping him along, but the last thing he remembered was take that hit for Ryuji before passing out. As he left, he made sure to lock Lala-chan's door before closing it. He slid his shoes back on and started heading home. He pulled out his phone where he had some unopened text messages and a few missed calls. A majority of the missed calls were from his boyfriend, but he had one miss call from Ryuji, and two from Mishima. The text messages were mostly from his boyfriend, like the phone calls, but the others were from the group text. He quickly texted in the group chat that he was awake and fine knowing that everyone would wake up to the message later in the morning.

His voicemails were mainly his boyfriend wondering where he was and listening to the intensity of them change as the number of messages increased. There was only one left from Mishima and it was about them meeting up to hangout. Evan noted to make sure he planned a day to hang out with Mishima as he pulled out his keys and opened up the door to the apartment. As he entered, he started to take his shoes off and noticed a light on the far side of the room turn on. There sat Shikora in his usual attire for work. The clothes were wrinkled from the usual wear of the day, and the ashtray next to light had several butts in it. There was also a bottle of whiskey on its side next to the chair as Evan took in the entire area before meeting the gaze of Shikora.

"Where the hell have you been?" the man asked with a harsh tone.

"School and work were rough, and I wasn't able to sleep between the two so Lala-chan let me crash at her place for a while" Evan stated as he put his phone in his bag and started heading towards his room.

"Where do you think you're going?" Shikora slurred as he stood up and stumbled a little towards Evan. The taller man quickly loomed over him and caused Evan to cower towards the wall. "I've been worried about you, and the first thing you want to do is make a run for your room" Shikora stated as he forced Evan to look up at him. His steel cold glare made Evan's blood boil and freeze at the same time. How could this man treat him so shitty?

"I have to get a little more sleep" Evan stated pushing the drunken man away from him trying to gain a little bit of courage. Although the push gave him a little bit of space, he wasn't out of Shikora range and the man sent a backhand flying that caught Evan across the face. The contact of skin on skin rung out through the room as the stinging sensation caused Evan to become of center and stagger against the wall. He brought his hand up to his face to cover the inevitable mark that he knew was going to form as he looked over at Shikora with tears starting to well up in his eyes.

"Don't you ever tell me what you need to do" Shikora spat at him as he grabbed the boy and pulled his hand away from his face. "There isn't anyone in this world who knows what you need except me, so deal with it and get your ass to your room. I'm tired of you." With that Shikora pushed the boy away causing him to hit the wall behind him. Shikora made his way to his room and slammed his door shut. Evan, standing on shaking legs, fixed his bag on his back and kept himself composed until he got to his room. He threw his bag down on the floor and fell back against his door finally letting the tears fall.

"Just a few more days" he whispered to himself as his head dropped into his hands. He listened as there was noise in the next room over. Angry sounds of things being thrown, and the faint murmur of curse words filled Evan's ears. He pulled his phone back out of his pocket and was surprised to see a text from Ryuji.

"Happy to hear you're finally awake. Before leaving Lala-chan's, we all decided that we need to stock up and regroup to figure out how to advance in Shikora's palace. We will see you at school."

Evan rubbed the tear streaks from his cheeks before texting back.

"I know that this is something that we need to do, but he is getting worse and I don't know how much more I can take." Evan's phone lit up in seconds and he looked down to read the message.

"What do you mean he is getting worse?"

"His drinking is escalating, he hit me across the face and threw me up against the wall. According to him, he is the only one that knows what is best for me. I can't take these beatings anymore Ryuji." As he clicked send, Evan felt more tears start to roll down his cheeks. Regardless of what the others decided, Evan knew he needed to go back to the palace and find Shikora's treasure. It was the only way for him to be free of all this.

"Are you okay?" Ryuji texted back. Evan didn't bother texting the boy back because he should clearly know that answer. Deep down he knew that Ryuji was most likely pacing around in his room fuming about all of this. Knowing someone cared so much about his well-being made him feel a little better though. Evan picked himself up off of his floor and made his way to the bathroom. He washed his face clear it up a little and assessed the damage from the latest fight with his boyfriend. His entire right cheek was red and the top of it where the cheek bone was most prominent was starting to bruise.

He dug through the medicine cabinet to find that all his reserve make-up was gone. No doubt Shikora gave it to one of the girls he had over while Evan was either working or at school; however, this meant he had no way of hiding the mark at school and would most likely have to deal with stares and questions from professors. He walked back into his room and checked his phone one last time to see another message from Ryuji.

"It was stupid of me to ask if you're okay, but don't you worry. We will take care of that bastard Shikora and these things will stop so you can be okay. I'll see you at school later, I gotta try to at least get some sleep before school." Evan plugged his phone in to charge and climbed into bed. He stared up at the ceiling and let the seconds past to minutes until he drifted back off to sleep again.

Ryuji ran as fast as he could to the train station mumbling and panting the entire way. He made it just in time and took a seat to catch his breath. Looking up he noticed that there were a few other Shujin students on this train with him. Normally it was just him, so he figured he wasn't the only one running late.

The halls were buzzing with chatter as he and several other students started strolling in. A lot of the chatter was still about Kamoshida and the Phantom Thieves, but one conversation he overheard between two girls made his blood boil.

"Did you see the new kid from Kawakami's class this morning?" the shorter girl asked the taller of the two.

"Which one? The criminal or the drag queen?"

"The red-head is a drag queen?" another student asked joining the two girls.

"Yeah, I overheard a couple students from the area seeing him coming out of Crossroads in drag. Doesn't shock me though. Nothing against him, but he is very feminine and from what the students said he look good in drag."

"Well back to my main questions" the shorter girl stated and the other two both shrugged and said no.

"Well, I saw him this morning and he had a bruise on face. According to a few of his classmates, this isn't the first time he has come to school with a bruise or mark" the girl explained as the other two shared a look and they continued to talk until the warning bell sounded.

Ryuji decided to be late for class by making a pitstop at Evan's classroom. He peered in through one of the window's and saw Evan sitting in his chair talking with Mishima. The two seemed to be having a good conversation and every now and then Evan would cover up the mark with his hands. From what he could tell, the others in the room would look over and look causing Evan to cover the mark and blush in embarrassment. With that Ryuji made his way to his class and prepared himself for the attitude he knew he would be getting from his teacher.

"Is it okay?" Mishima asked seeing Evan reach up and cover the mark for the fifth time since they got into class.

"Yeah, for the most part. Just feels so weird having everyone stare at it" Evan said loud enough for his nosy neighbors to hear and look away. Without warning Mishima reached out and pulled Evan's hand away from the mark. The movement caused Evan to flinch and stare Mishima in his eyes. Mishima's eyes were transfixed on the mark on his cheek as he reached up and gently caressed Evan's cheek softly touching the mark.

"Do you want to see if we can grab some ice to put on it and maybe get some of this swelling taken care of?" Mishima asked as he pulled his hand away and blushed realizing what he had just done. Evan gave him a warm smile and stood up asking him to lead the way. Mishima smiled back and stood up to direct him. As they were leaving they ran into Kawakami. They informed her of what they were doing and were reward with a heavy sigh and told to hurry back. The two casually talked as they made their way to the nurse's office to grab some ice, or maybe even an ice packet.

Once they got the ice, they lingered out in the hall a little while Evan pushed the cold pack up against his cheek. The freezing sensation sent a chill throughout his body and he shivered a little causing the boy next to him to start giggling. Evan started to chuckle as well as the two of them made their way back towards Kawakami's room. Most of the walk back was surprisingly quiet so they didn't disturb the other classes that were in session, but Evan felt like the silence was also due to something else. He pushed those thoughts aside as they reached the classroom.

"Here let me see" Mishima stated as he turned around and reached for Evan's face again. Reluctantly, Evan pulled the ice pack down and he felt Mishima lightly stroke his thumb across his mark. Evan looked at Mishima's face and saw a serious look come across it as it stared at his mark. "The swelling has gone done, but unfortunately the mark isn't gonna go away yet. I was hoping maybe some of it would at least disappear."

Evan smiled and grabbed Mishima's hand pulling it away from his mark. The gesture caused the boy to look directly at Evan instead of his mark. The boy blushed and looked away starting to smile as well. "Thank you Mishima" Evan stated before opening the classroom door for them to both head to their seats. Kawakami gave them an approving nod for getting back so quickly and not causing too much of a ruckus upon re-entering the classroom. With that she reminded the students that they would be leaving for Hawaii in a few days and too make sure that they were prepared and had everything take care of. Evan looked down at his phone and saw a text from the group. It was Ryuji.

Can you believe that we are going to be heading to Hawaii soon? (Ryuji)

Shouldn't you be paying attention to what is happening in your classroom? (Futaba)

I have to agree with Futaba on this one Ryuji (Makoto)

You should be paying attention and not on your phone (Makoto)

True but Hawaii is going to be so much fun! (Ann)

Not you too Ann! (Makoto)

We can discuss this more later, right now we need to focus on school and the palace (Evan)

At least one of you has their head on straight (Futaba)

Go figure it just happens to be the gay one (Evan)

The nancy-boy has jokes (Futaba)

What exactly is a nancy-boy? (Yusuke)

Not now Inari (Futaba)

Will you all just pay attention and focus on what you are supposed to be doing please? (Makoto)

Evan chucked as he put his phone back into his pocket. As much as he wanted to go to Hawaii, chances are he probably wouldn't be going. If Shikora has this change of heart, the police are going to be questioning him and they can't exactly do that when you are in a different time zone. He felt like he should tell Kawakami, but how would he explain all of it, so instead he opted to just tell her after the palace was destroyed.

As the day dragged on, Evan become less and less attentive to his classes and more aware that he needed to get back into the palace. The sooner everything was over, the better, and they only had a few days left before everyone would be gone for Hawaii. The minute his final class dismissed, Evan grabbed his things and made his way out of the room. He didn't even bother waiting for Akira and Ann to catch up to him. Ryuji wasn't in the hall waiting for him either, so Evan decided to make his way to the train station and head to Crossroads. Everyone else could stock up and regroup, but he wanted, no needed to get farther along in the palace.

The train ride was pleasantly quiet, and he managed to find a nice comfortable seat. It was surprising to him to see so few people on the train because they were usually packed. On the far end of the train car there was a young girl wearing a Shujin Academy outfit, which to him was very odd because he had never seen her before. He made sure to get a good look at her before feeling the train coming to a stop. He most likely was going to have to figure out who she was, but he could tell that she definitely was not in his class. She was older and had a ruggedness to her that he was unfamiliar with. He exited the car and made his way to the apartment where there was a note from Shikora on the fridge.

"Landed a big deal so gonna be out for the night.

Shikora"

Evan shook his head and threw the note in the garbage. Another day, another poor unfortunate girl or guy was going to find themselves in the clutches of that bastard. He went to his room and picked it up before starting his laundry. As he was throwing stuff into the washer he saw the familiar red shirt and black boxer briefs that Ryuji had let him borrow. He smiled to himself as he threw the items into the washer with the rest of his stuff. He made sure that things were neat and tidy for him to come back to before leaving the apartment and heading towards Crossroads. Just as he was entering he felt his phone starting to go off.

Where is Evan? (Ryuji)

I'm not sure (Ann)

He ducked out of class pretty quickly. Akira and I didn't have any time to catch up to him (Ann)

Well this meeting isn't going to go as well if everyone isn't here (Makoto)

We're not his keeper! (Ann)

I'm not saying that you are, but how are we supposed to create a plan for the palace without one of our key players here (Makoto)

Hey Futaba is there anything that you can do? (Ryuji)

I could try and see if I can locate his phone through my computer (Futaba)

After Evan had read Futaba's last message, he turned his phone off. The movement didn't go unnoticed by Lala-chan, who looked up from Ohya to see Evan walking in with a new shiner.

"Sweety, did Shikora do that to you?" Lala-chan asked as she put her cigarette out and made her way towards the boy.

"Is it ever anyone else?" Evan stated looking up at Lala-chan as she assessed the damage.

"It doesn't look as bad as I thought it was going to" Lala-chan inspected as she traced a knowing finger over the bruise making Evan wince a little.

"Mishima had me ice it in school this morning." As Evan mentioned this he saw Lala-chan's demeanor change and she stepped back to look at the boy again.

"The dark-haired boy who is usually in here looking for you?" she asked as she made her way back behind the bar to start cleaning some classes for later tonight.

"He's not here that often Lala-chan" Evan defended as he started to head towards the hangout.

"As if you knew" Lala-chan called after him as she chuckled. Evan put his bag down and started to curse at himself for turning his phone off. He completely forgot that he was going to need it to get to the palace. He reluctantly turned his phone back on unaware that it created a pinging sound off of a computer far away from him.

"Guys I got a location finally on Evan" Futaba said as she clicked away at her keyboard in her room.

"Finally!" Ryuji exclaimed as he moved closer to the girl to check out her screen.

"Do you mind!" Fubata berated as she pushed Ryuji away.

"Where is he?" Makoto asked as the others also got up and made their way towards Futaba.

"The signal is coming from somewhere in the Red-Light District. Best guess it he is most likely either home or at Crossroads" Futaba surmised as she turned to face the others.

"I don't like this," Ann stated looking at the screen where the pinging was highlight, "what if he went in on his own?"

"Then we have to go after him" Ryuji interjected as the others looked at each other.

"We obviously have to, but we haven't even worked out a plan yet. This palace is dangerous, and the enemies are constantly getting stronger. You and Evan were knocked out for Christ sakes" Ann exclaimed as she looked over at Akira. He in turn looked at Makoto, who was holding her hand up to her face in one of her thoughtful trances.

"It's best if we come up with a plan on the way there. This isn't how I planned our brainstorming session, but we can't let him get himself into danger again. Grab your things, we're heading to Crossroads" Makoto stated as she grabbed her bag and made her way downstairs. The others quickly followed suit and met her at the entrance.

"My my my, what a foolish boy you are" came an eerie voice from behind Diva as he finished taking down yet another shadow.

"I'm a lot of things, but foolish isn't one of them" Diva stated before whipping one of his chakrams backwards towards where the voice was coming from. "You would know that if you didn't spend all your time beating me" Diva finished as he caught the chakram and faced a projection of Shikora's shadow.

"Why spend time with one when there are so many just waiting to be with me" Shikora's shadow's projection said as he approached the boy. "Besides, all you're good for is a good lay. Still one of the best if I do say so myself."

"Enough of the idle chatter you pig, where are you cowering? Too scared to come out and fight like the man you claim to be, or do you prefer when I'm weak and you can easily manhandle me?" Evan kept pushing these questions towards the projection while keeping an eye on his surroundings so as not to be attacked by any surprise shadows.

"Oh, you think I'm scared of a whore like you. How precious and stupid of you. For the record, I'm not hiding. You're just not worth my time so I have the others deal with you instead. Maybe someday you'll be worthy of my time" Shikora's shadow laughed as his projection disappeared and a new shadow reappeared. This one was different from the others as it started to approach Diva. To the boy's astonishment, the shadow was a reflection of him, he was dressed in ragged clothes and covered in both love marks and bruises.

"It's about time I took your sorry ass down" Diva seethed between pierced lips.

"Try as you might, but Master Shikora treats me so good. I have a roof over my head, food in my belly, and a love like no other" The shadow stated blatantly at Diva.

"How could he think that I'm nothing more than a doormat for him to walk all over?" Diva whispered to himself as he felt his heart clutch in his chest.

"Defeating you will please my Master, and I'm not one to let my Master down, so please prepare yourself for your own demise" the shadow Evan stated before pulling a vial from one of his pockets.

"No!" Diva exclaimed too late as the shadow opened up the vial and inhaled the contents that were inside. Within seconds a glossy haze started to show over the shadows eyes as it started to change form.

"None shall make it to my Master" the shadow wailed as it threw itself at Diva.

"This plan doesn't sound half bad" Ryuji confessed as the group made their way into Crossroads.

"Hello Lala-chan" Makoto started as she looked around, "you haven't happened to see Evan around have you?"

"About half an hour ago he went to your meeting spot. Haven't heard from him and I was starting to get worried and was about to check on him" Lala-chan responded as she dried her hands off and faced the teens.

"No need to worry, we will go and check up on him for you" Ann quickly said before rushing the others towards their meeting area. Once their they all found Evan's bag, but no Evan.

"That is one crazy guy" Futaba stated as she pulled her phone out to get them ready to head into the palace.

"Stupid is more like it" Ann corrected and threw he bag down on the bench. "I mean why would he think he could go into the palace all alone. He is bound to get hurt again."

"Watch it Ann" Ryuji warned setting his stuff down as well.

"He may have just awoken to his power, but he is by far as powerful as the rest of us" Morgana said trying to defuse the situation.

"Morgana is right. He is capable of taking care of himself, but he is smart enough to know when he has met his match" Yusuke added as he waited for Futaba to get them into the palace.

"Is everyone ready?" Futaba asked as she put in the coordinates and waited to hit the enter button.

"As ready as we'll ever be" Makoto responded as they started to into the metaverse. Joker took charge and led the group through the palace trying to find Diva. While making their way through, they passed by several shadows who were incapacitated and lying around the palace floors.

"Did Diva do all of this?" Panther asked as the made their way through and reached the save room that they waited in last time for Skull, Diva and Oracle.

"It's hard to think that the enemy would turn on itself, so I think it is safe to say that he has taken out all these guards" Oracle stated typing away at her laptop as the group took a quick break in the save room to get their bearings. "The sensors aren't picking up anymore shadows on this floor." As Oracle relayed this information to the rest of the group, she started to look further into the map to see if she could find Diva.

"How is this possible Mona? Even we didn't have this much strength when we awoke to our powers" Panther asked and turned to look at him.

"In all honesty, I'm not sure Panther. This is beyond my comprehension" Mona responded and looked away from everyone. He always felt so embarrassed when he didn't have all the answers.

"Guys I'm getting a strong reading from the floor below us" Oracle exclaimed as she pulled up the map to show everyone.

"What are those markers on the map?" Skull asked as he peered at the two dots on the map.

"If I had to guess, one of them is Diva and the other is a power shadow" Oracle surmised before shutting her laptop. "If we leave here and head to the end of the hall, we should be able to find a way down to the next floor. If the rest of this floor is like what we have seen so far, we shouldn't have any issues with shadows."

Everyone prepared themselves and took off out the door making their way towards the stairs to the lower floor. Each of them was worried about what was taking place, but they needed to get there to properly assess the situation.

"God damn it" Diva exclaimed as he parried another hard blow from his shadow. He dropped down onto one knee and started to pant trying to get his bearings.

"Your efforts are futile, just accept your fate" the shadow stated before launching another attack at Diva. Diva jumped back and whipped his chakrams at the shadow cutting through his attack. The sudden cuts caused the shadow to revert its attack and defend. Diva caught both of his chakrams and staggered a little before he was standing up right again. He smirked a little and looked the shadow in his glossy eyes.

"If you think I'd accept my fate that easily, you're sorely mistaken. I've accepted my fate for far too long until I was given the chance to change that fate. Accepting it now would mean that all of this was for nothing. No way in hell am I just gonna throw in the towel and let you win." With that Diva called for Nataraja and had him use diarama. With more of his energy restored, Diva stood up even straighter and had a devilish glint in his eyes. Diva launched himself at his shadow and managed to knock him back before he got his bearings again and moved away from the shadow.

The others came running up in time to see Diva standing back up with his back facing them. Skull and Joker were the first two on the scene and quickly jumped back when a huge blow knocked Diva back a few feet. The two looked at where the blow came from and saw a distorted Evan on the other side of the room.

"There's two of them?" Skull exclaimed in disbelief.

"No that's obviously his shadow and the way that Shikora views Evan in the real world" Mona interjected mocking the boy for his ignorance.

"Well, I knew that" Skull stated trying to play it off.

"You're hopeless" Mona sighed and was frightened when Diva went running passed them.

"Less talking and more fighting" Diva stated before he called for Nataraja again and used hysterical slap against the shadow.

"Right, what's the line-up for this one boss?" Skull asked as he whipped his fighting arm around preparing it.

"Queen, Skull, Diva and myself will take point. Fox and Panther make sure to keep Oracle safe" Joker responded as he lined up with Diva and prepared himself for the fight.

"Anything you can tell us to help?" Queen asked as she walked up next to Diva.

"He hits as hard as I do, and he inhaled something out of a vial before the fight. It makes him a crazed fiend that is hell bent on hurting anyone who opposes him." As Diva said this, Skull thought back to yesterday when Diva practically whipped the floor with him.

"He's inhaled that substance that affected Diva yesterday" Skull stated before parrying a blow from the shadow and buckling a little. Queen and Joker shared a concerned look before focusing all of their attention on the shadow.

"Oracle can you tell us if it has any weaknesses?" Queen asked as she called for Johanna and raised the party's defense.

"None what so ever, so you all are going in blind" Oracle replied back.

"Great, so we are just basically gonna have to beat the shit out of it until it drops" Skull sighed out before preparing himself to attack. "Let's go Captain" Skull called out as his persona appeared. Skull hit the shadow with a hard hit causing it to buckle a little under the impact. Joker added to the onslaught by pulling out his gun and shooting the shadow with a trick shot. The shadow screamed out and fell down giving the group the opportunity to surround it.

"It'd be best if you just gave us now that everyone else is here" Diva said to the shadow who in turn looked at him with an evil glint in his eyes.

"I would never give up on my Master that easily. He has treated me better than my own parents and for that I am eternally grateful and in his debt."

"Shut up!" Diva screamed before the group performed an all-out attack on the shadow. The shadow just chuckled before hurling itself at Joker and wrapping him in a vice like grip and squeezing him tight. Joker groaned in discomfort trying to break free all while the shadow continued chuckling and tightening around him more.

"Joker!" Diva exclaimed before whipping his chakram at the shadow and cutting him like before. Once again this caused the shadow to recoil back and he released Joker who dropped down onto one knee. "Are you okay?" Diva asked as he checked one the group's leader. Joker just nodded and took a deep breathe before standing back up.

Queen yelled for Johanna before jumping onto her persona and using frei on the shadow intensifying the damage dealt since Diva's chakram's had caused a burn on the shadow. The Shadow wailed a little and grinned.

"This pain feels amazing, but not as good as the pain that my Master inflicts on me" the shadow exclaimed before charging at Diva. Diva braced himself for the impact and slide back a little before regaining his footing. Diva called out for Nataraja to use whine up resulting in Diva's accuracy and attack to be increased, as well as him getting another turn without the need for a baton pass. It was a move that he had recently learned while making his way this far into the palace. He was going to try and save it for when they finally got to battle Shikora's shadow, but they were going to be in deep trouble if the group continued trading blows with this shadow.

"You're nothing more than a pathetic excuse for a shadow if you think that all that taunting is going to get to me. You're right, I used to just endure the beatings, but I never enjoyed them. Now, you're just a shell, more so a cocoon if I may surmise, because you are the life I used to live before I got the courage to break free and fly away. I'll just you just how strong I have become." As Diva rambled on, he watched as the shadow balled up it's fists tighter and tighter.

"Enough!" The shadow screamed before hurling himself at Diva again. "Enough is right," Diva started while lifting his chakrams above his head, "light them up Nataraja." With that, Nataraja appeared again and set the weapons ablaze. Diva waited for when the shadow was close and started to spin around as fast as he could. The momentum started to catch up and the flames started to rise and engulf Diva's figure. The minute that the shadow got to close, it was caught in the vortex and swallowed up into the flames. After a few seconds, Diva stopped and sent the shadow flying away from the group.

"That was fucking sweet" Skull raved as he picked his heavy rod up and maneuvered over to the stunned shadow, giving it a hard hit against its body. Joker followed that up with another trick shot resulting in the shadow being surrounded again.

"Why do you oppose him when he was nothing but kind to you?" the shadow asked trying to get back up on its feet. Diva put the barrel of his sniper rifle under the shadow's chin and made him look up at him so that their eyes met.

"He was kind in the beginning, but what he has become now is not kind." With that the group did an all-out attack and finished the shadow off.

"Now that that is taken care of, it's time for us to have a little chat" Queen said while turning her attention to Diva. To her surprise, the boy was already halfway down the corridor. Queen called out to the boy to wait and started chasing after him with the rest of the group in tow.

"What the hell is he thinking?" Panther complain aloud getting hardly any attention from anyone but Skull.

"Well, what would you be thinking if you were getting beat on a regular basis by someone who is supposed to love and protect you?" The boys question surprised her and made her stop in her tracks. The sensibility to the statement was one that no one was expecting from Skull as the others stopped and turned around to face him.

"Now isn't the time to dwell on this," Fox stated, "our best course of action is getting caught up with him so that he doesn't get himself hurt, or so that we don't get ourselves hurt because it's dangerous to have conversations in the middle of the hall when there could be shadows lurking around."

"Exactly, so let's catch up to him and convene in the next safe room so we can all chat" Queen stated bringing an end to the conversation and hurrying down the hall towards Diva. The others all followed suit and hurried along after her. They went down a few different halls without any success with finding Diva.

"The cognition is weak here" Oracle explained before walking up to a door and opening it.

"Well at least we found a safe room" Panther stated. "And we found Diva" Oracle added as she made her way into the room and over to the boy. The rest of the group made their way into the safe room before closing the door and taking seats around the table in the middle of the room.

"You can save your lecture for another time," Diva started before Queen could even start speaking, "I knew what I was doing and the dangers that was going to come with it. I'm just sorry that I got the rest of you wrapped up in all of this."

"Dude, there's no need to apologize. We end up doing stuff like this all the time" Skull offered as he sat down next to the boy. "Besides, you're kinda one of us now, so we couldn't let you go and get yourself killed."

"As touching as that is, I'm afraid the abuse is to the point where I either die trying to change him in here, or I die trying to get away from him in the real world." Diva put his head in his hands not wanting to look up at anyone for fear that they might see the tears welling up in his eyes. He needed to be strong and help everyone secure a route to the treasure. Diva shook his head and gave out a long sigh before standing up and stretching out.

"No time to rest now though, right?" Diva finished his stretching and made his way over to the door.

"By the way, Mona are sensing the treasure's whereabouts close by?" Diva asked as he passed by the cat.

"I can sense it better than last time, so we have to be close to it at this point" the cat responded following the boy out of the room.

"Then how about we go secure the infiltration route before leaving?" the boy asked as he turned around to face the others.

"We all have enough energy to get there since you took out a majority of the shadows leading up to this point" Fox stated making his way over to the door next to Mona and Diva.

"Don't think you're going without me you crazy inari" Oracle added as she closed up her laptop and stood next to Diva.

"Well if the hermit is in, then I guess I'm going too. Can't have a hibernator show me up" Skull chimed in as he gave Oracle a playful look. Panther, Queen and Joker all looked at one another contemplating what they should do. Unfortunately, Diva wasn't going to give them the time they wanted because he hit them with an ultimatum. Either they were in or they were out. The group technically had enough members to continue on and one of them would hang back to protect Oracle.

"My hands are tied" Joker started as he made his way over to the door. "In or out ladies?" He asked as he faced Panther and Queen like everyone else.

"Come on Queen" Panther grunted as she stood up and stretched out. "I hate when they gang up on us."

"If we are going to do this, I want Diva off the front lines for a little bit. You've taken a lot of damage and we can't risk you getting hurt again like last time" Queen delegated. Diva rolled his eyes but agreed with her, so she was appeased, and the group could officially head out. The group decided on Joker, Queen, Skull, and Fox taking point with Panther, Diva, and Mona on reserve to protect Oracle. The main group encountered several stronger shadows that they were not used to but managed to prevail without much fatigue. Everyone was feeling pretty good about the progress so far, but there was one individual who was having a hard time concentrating on everything. When the option was available, Panther would glare daggers at the back of Diva's head trying to figure out how to question the boy. She couldn't wrap her head around everything that had taken place.

"The more you let it fester, the worse your emotions are going to get" came a very calm voice from in front of her.

"What are you talking about?" Panther asked as she stopped walking and Diva turned around.

"I can feel your eyes on me Panther, call it a gay boy's intuition" Diva chuckled as he made his way over to the blonde. "Whatever it is, you can talk to me about it. At this point in life I've heard it all."

"It's just…." Panther trailed off and looked away from the boy clutching her hand into a fist. Before the boy could say anything, Panther threw her hand out to the side in a defensive pose and spoke. "I don't understand how you could possibly think going into a palace by yourself was such a smart idea! You know the dangers just as well as we do, and you did it deliberately without consulting the rest of us. You even tried to be sneaky and turn your phone off, but when you had to enter the palace you had to turn it on and it signaled us of where you were. You didn't even consider the kind of dangers we were going to have to face when coming to get you and it could have ended badly for all of us."

Diva closed his eyes and listened patiently while Panther yelled at him. Her yells also caught the attention of both Oracle and Mona. The duo stared at her before looking over at Diva, who was trying to control his breathing before looking up and opening his eyes. He made sure his eyes connected with Panther's, so he could properly read her emotions and making his vulnerable for the blonde to read. A small tear rolled down his cheek as Diva looked away from her.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand Panther," Diva whispered as he brought his hand up to wipe away the stray tear. "My time spent at home is a living hell. My parents didn't want me and threw me out onto the streets when I came out. Here I was, a vulnerable and stupid teen, scared about trying to make a living at such a young age without the support of my family when a caring and charismatic man came into my life and offered me hope. That hope was short-lived the first day that he wrapped his hands around my neck. That hope continued to be crushed when the man who brought me such joy told me that I had to pay him back for the thousands of dollars he spent on me to make sure I was fed, to make sure I was clothed, and to make sure that I had a roof over my head. The last ounce of hope that I was retaining was finally crushed when he brought over another and cheated on me in the bed that we used to share together as a happy couple. Everyday I have to put a smile on my face and fake it in front of the kids at school and pray to god that I remember to pick up more makeup to cover the damage this man does to me every night. So Panther, I am sorry that I didn't think about the well being of all of you when I selfishly decided to come in here alone. I was carelessly thinking about how my body cannot take much more of this pain and suffering. I apologize for any destress this must have caused you and the others, but I would never wish for any of you to be in my shoes and understand the urgency that finishing the palace means to me."

As hard as he tried, Diva was unable to hold back his tears as he stated all of this to Panther. The blonde watched her teammate crumble before her eyes and made an attempt to approach him. Diva simply pushed her away and continued to wipe at the tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Diva, I'm so sorry" Panther apologized as she lowered her head in shame.

"Save the emotions for Shiho hun, she needs you more than I do. Besides what's a few more tears huh?" Diva replied before cupping the girls chin and making their eyes connect again.

"Besides, that's not the real thing that is bothering you" Diva stated surprising the girl and pulling his hand away. Before Panther could say anything, Skull came running back to them and informed them that they found a door with a crazy lock on it. Panther and Oracle ran off with him, but Mona stayed behind with Diva as the boy looked off into the distance.

"You know, you're one smart kid" said Mona as he looked up at the boy to comfort him.

"Not smart enough apparently since I came in here all alone and you guys had to come and rescue me" Diva responded back looking back down at the cat.

"If you ask me, I feel like you didn't only do it for yourself, but you did it knowing full well we would come in here after you" the cat surmised smiling up at the boy.

"And if you ask me, I think you're too smart for your own good" Diva said back with a smile before offering to pick Mona up and put him on one of his shoulders. "But, you have to promise to keep it between you and me" Diva stated while making his way towards where the others were.

"My lips are sealed" the cat replied with a chuckle.

"None of the pictures on the wall are working" Queen complained as she stood there pondering what to do next.

"There aren't any control rooms around here either to unlock the door either" Oracle explained as she searched her computer for any solutions to the door. The teens felt like they had truly come to an impasse until they say Mona and Diva appear.

"What took you so long?" Skull complained looking at the two in frustration. "We've been struggling to figure out how to unlock this door, and you two have lead feet."

"You know Skull, lead feet, more commonly stated as lead foot, is used for drivers who speed. It's not used on individuals who walk too slow" Fox inquired making the boy turn around and start yelling at him. The yelling started to infuriate Panther, who joined in and started yelling at the two of them. With all the commotion going on, Diva slowly made his way up to the door and studied it intently. He noticed a small hole in the door that looked big enough to pass a bank note through. He studied the hole and started to contemplate what it would represent to a man like Shikora.

"You onto something?" Mona asked as he watched Diva's expression change.

"I think so, but I'm not exactly sure" Diva stated before pointing at the hole in the door to show Mona. "This hole is small enough to slip bank notes through, but what would Shikora be after in a fantasy world like this?"

"I mean he is greedy, so maybe he expects to be paid or compensated before being allowed in" Mona surmised as he started to study the hole as well.

"His actors and actresses compensate him with sex in order to get them what they want, and this hole obviously isn't something sexual" Diva pondered aloud while looking around at his surroundings. On the walls, there were pictures that framed images of him and Shikora together, but as you progressed down the wall the pictures leading to the doors started to show the distance happening between him and Shikora. Eventually the last photo that was next to the door was a picture of Diva standing alone. Eventually, Diva put everything together and figured out what was needed. He calmly approached Joker and managed to get his attention over the shouts of the rest of the team. While him and Mona were studying the door, Oracle and Queen joined the shouting match with Panther, Fox and Skull.

"Joker, I know that you and Mona are in charge of the group's finances, but do you happen to have 150,000 yen on you?" Diva asked causing the boy's eyebrows to shoot up.

"Why such a high amount?" Joker asked back.

"Just trust me on this one" Diva pleaded looking the boy in his eyes to show he was being sincere. Joker decided to put his trust in Diva and forked over the amount the boy requested.

"Thank you" Diva said before walking back over to the door. Without another word he slipped the money through the hole on the door. Loud humming sounds started coming from the door and caused the group to stop arguing and turn to look at what was happening. After a few more hums, there was a loud popping sound and the door started to slowly move inwards revealing that the lock was removed.

"How did you do that?" Skull asked in amazement as the boy stood their calmly.

"More important, how did you know the exactly amount needed to open the door?" Mona asked looking up at the boy yet again.

"I pieced everything together" Diva started before his explanation. "This door is a representation of something he his decided to lock away. Something he now views as property. The photos on the wall show the progression of my relationship with Shikora with the one farthest away being from when we first got together. The one closest to the door is our current status."

"But that's a picture of just you" Queen interrupted causing Skull to turn around and shush her.

"Precisely" Diva stated. "I'm no longer seen as a lover by Shikora, but I'm seen as his property. When you put all of that together, you realize that he keeps a heavy lock on this door because the property behind this door is truly one of his guilty pleasure."

"None of this explains how you knew the exact amount needed to unlock the door though" Panther interjected this time causing the whole group to shush her.

"I was getting to that" Diva stated irritated. "The reason why I knew the exact amount is because that is precisely how much I own him for everything he has done. The amount covers the clothes on my back, the supplies he got me for school, the manual labor that he put into turning the guest bedroom into my room, and the pain and suffering I have apparently caused him. Symbolically, unlocking this door is like revealing his guilty pleasure to the freedom he so desperately wants. Now, with the door unlocked, there is no way to keep his pleasure from escaping, and I'd bet my life that his treasure is something inside this room."

Everyone shared a look before staring at the boy. Through his explanation, Diva's fists started to clench up into balls as his irritation rose. His irritation was not from the others interrupting him, but from the significance of everything. In his head, it seemed okay but the minute he started explaining it out for everyone and himself to hear, his blood started to boil.

"What are we waiting for?" Skull asked before grabbing Diva by his arm and pulling him into the room followed by the rest of the group.

"The distortion in this room is crazy" Mona breathed out looking around at everything in this room.

"It's because his control over his guilty pleasure has started to break and he had to change this room to my liking instead of his" Diva explained while also taking in the view of the room.

"Hey, there is a save room over there!" Oracle exclaimed while pointing at a door off to the far wall.

"And I'm sensing the treasure up ahead towards the far end of the room" Mona added as he looked up at the others.

"Lets secure this route and get out of here" Joker stated getting nods from the rest of the group. The made their way over to the save room to mark it on their map. Once marked, they headed towards the far end of the room that Mona mentioned. The floor seemed to stretch on forever due to the distortion in the room. Eventually they made it to the end of the room where there was a second door.

"What's this?" Fox asked as the group watched Diva raised his hand up and run it down the frame of the door.

"Shikora's bedroom door" the boy whispered before reaching for the handle and pushing it open. Inside, over the bed, floated a gleaming ball that confused the newest group member as everyone else started to get excited.

"I don't understand, I thought you said you could sense the treasure, and this is nothing" Diva exclaimed gesturing to the floating ball.

"Don't you remember that we also said that the treasure won't properly materialize until the calling card is sent" Mona stated hoping to ease the boy's confusion.

"I was so focused on getting here, I completely forgot" Diva stated cupping his head in his hands. Skull came over and put a supportive hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. Just think, it's almost over." As Skull said this, Diva's emotions got the best of him and he turned around and buried his head in Skull's chest. He had shed so many tears earlier in front of too many in the group, that he didn't want everyone to see him in tears. The worse part was, the emotions hit him spontaneously. He thought tears like this would come when he finally defeated Shikora, but just the thought of how close they were to freeing him from this pain caused him tears of relief.

Skull was completely thrown off at first by the action, but eventually wrapped his arms around the boy and hugged him. He did it mostly to reassure him that the end was in sight. Diva continued to silently cry into Skull's chest as the others made notes on securing their route and when would be the best time to send the calling card. They still had a few days before they were going to be leaving for Hawaii, and the calling card would most likely be made the next day and be given to Diva the day after to give to Shikora.

"I think we're good for now" Queen started before looking over at Skull. "Do you think he's ready to head out?" Skull gave Queen a nod before they all made their way back to the entrance and left the palace. They found themselves back at Crossroads before Makoto walked out and asked Lala-chan for a pitcher of water and some glasses. Once she had them, she came back into the road and poured a glass of water for everyone.

"So what's the plan again?" Evan asked trying to hide how physically and emotionally exhausted he was.

"Ryuji and Makoto are going to work on the calling card tonight after we all go home" Ann started.

"Once it is done they will give it to you and you need to make sure that Shikora sees it and reads it" Futaba finished for her.

"I can do that" Evan assured them as he took a sip from his water.

"Are you sure you'll be able to?" Ryuji asked trying to gage Evan's mindset.

"I've waited for this day for a long time Ryuji. Trust me when I saw I'm ready" Evan stated looking the boy in his eyes.

"I believe you" Ryuji responded with a small smirk before downing his water. "If we are going to get this calling card made before the trains are done running, we should probably head our separate ways for now." Makoto agreed with Ryuji's statement and the group started to say their goodbyes and be on their way. Evan cleaned up the glasses and brought the pitcher back out to Lala-chan.

"Sweet jesus hun, you look horrible" the queen gawked as she saw Evan's for the first time since he arrived earlier in the day.

"My emotions got the best of me today Lala-chan, but rest assured things are going to be better soon" the boy responded with a smile. Lala-chan reached out and held onto Evan's hands.

"Evan, please tell me you're safe" the queen stated plainly looking into the boy's eyes for any red flags. Evan chuckled softly before giving Lala-chan's hands a reassuring squeeze and releasing them.

"It's not like that Lala-chan. I finally am starting to feel safe again, and it is only a matter of time before I am actually safe." With that Evan said goodbye and started to head home leaving the poor queen perplexed with his statement. The wordage of his statement did not have her confused, it was what he meant by there only being a matter of time before he is actually safe.


End file.
